Star Trek: The Final Encounter Chapters
by Retro-kat
Summary: The epic journey continues.... A new crewman a whole lot of trouble. Read on and see the continuing adventures of the Enterprise E


Star Trek: The Next Generation: Behind Enemy Lines This is a new epic adventure set after Voyager coming home, but before Nemesis it involves the TNG crew and some old and new friends!!! It begins the chapter of a following chapter in the history of Star Trek so enjoy.  
  
AUTHOR: Retro_Kat  
  
Personal log Stardate 51193.2 we are on route to rendezvous with the Starship Enterprise and an Armada of research, construction and warships from the major powers of the Alpha Quadrant, to go beyond the lines into the Delta Quadrant, mapping out uncharted galaxies, which even the U.S.S Voyager, has not entered. We wish to extend our friendships to new civilisations like Captain Archer did over 3 millennia ago, journeying throughout the Alpha quadrant, followed by the legendary Captain Kirk, and the most recent Captain of the Enterprise Jean-Luc Picard. Hopefully I will do just as good as job on-board the famous starship, I'm not a Captain yet but I am at least Commander, I still can't believe that Riker wanted to exchange with me for awhile I thought he would of jumped at the chance of exploring the Delta Quadrant, well I can't exactly blame him even I turned down the offer twice from him but he was so persistent.  
  
"Commander the Enterprise has given us a space in the docking bay but I have to warn you, the Enterprise has never had a Runabout shuttle dock before it wasn't designed to handle 10 Runabouts," said Riley, the Commander just looked at him but turned and faced the Lieutenant at sensors "how much room do we have to manoeuvre I don't want my shuttle scratched or damaged," said the Commander the Lieutenant nodded and replied "sir we have plenty room," the Commander didn't acknowledge the Lieutenant but watched the shuttle loom ever to near the warp nacelle before she entered the shuttle bay. The clamshell doors were beautifully made as they parted to reveal an open area for the shuttle to land, the Commander looked around, it was lit well with lights hanging on the wall and on the floor it read NCC-1701 E he couldn't see U.S.S Enterprise because their was a type 9 shuttle in the way. As the shuttle gracefully landed on the deck the Commander took one last look around the shuttle it would be awhile before he would see it again, he picked up a bag with the Federation symbol on it and a small laptop monitor it had a lot of data on it and it went everywhere with him. The shuttle door opened and revealed the bulkhead of the wall nearest the shuttle it was very detailed but the thing he noticed more was the panel on the wall and it had some diagnostics and all the shuttle's present around the shuttle bay, "Commander Miller if you will come this way, Captain Picard told me to tell you to head straight to his ready room you have to give some of your belongings to me," said the Ensign the Commander nodded, but the Ensign went to grab the laptop but Martin snatched it back from him "sorry Ensign this stays with me," he said politely and calmly.  
  
They walked through a side door and were greeted with a line of officers the Ensign turned right and the Commander and his fellow crewman that he had travelled with in the shuttle walked down the centre corridor, the Commander had noticed the interior of the corridor past the officers, the bulkheads were on off colour of beige with a black panel running the whole length of the wall, at every interval their was a vertical strip which the Commander presumed was the status of the ship, which was green, yellow and Red Alert. The Commander walked into a turbolift "deck 1" said the Commander to the computer, instantly the turbolift moved up to the bridge were all the main functions of the ship were carried out, he stepped onto the bridge and it was as good as he had imagined it, he slowly walked across the bridge he knew he was being watched by all the crewman on the bridge but he didn't care, he walked right up to the centre seat and placed a hand on the head rest.he squeezed the head rest and at once he knew it was made of synthesized leather which was hard to come by he looked at the chair on his left and he automatically knew it was his chair. He turned and looked out of the viewscreen it was awesome he had dreamed since he was a teenager to stand on the bridge of the legendary starship Enterprise but he didn't get the chance, he was so close to standing on the deck of the Enterprise D when she was taken from starbase 74 by the Bynars, he was only 20 at the time but now he was 28 he had climbed the ranks so fast in 8 years, he was now a Commander and he will stay at that position until he is offered the chance to Captain his own starship, but finally after so many years, for the second time here he stood on the bridge of the legendary starship Enterprise. The Commander looked around the bridge and moved towards the door on his right but realised that he had to go through the doors on his left it was different because he had only seen the bridge from hailing the vessel a few hours ago, his nerves picked up slightly and the adrenalin started pumping, he pressed the door chime and waited a second and then "come in," said a voice from behind the door he knew who's voice it was before he even opened the door. He moved towards the door and it opened revealing a man behind his desk working over a laptop like the one he carried in his arm, "ah Commander come and take a chair," the man was smiling now like the Commander was an old friend, Martin placed his laptop on the desk and sat down, "welcome to the Enterprise Martin, we have a lot to do before we get under way," said Picard "thank you sir it is such an honour to finally meet the man who stopped the Borg, twice. The first man to encounter Q I could go on but you know it all ready," replied Martin, Picard nodded and stood up to shake his hand Martin took it and shook it. Martin had a lot of respect for Picard like so many other officers in Starfleet, "well Martin if you would follow me," said Picard and moved out from behind his desk and walked ahead of Martin onto the bridge the door opened with a slight hiss, Picard was standing in front of the centre seat other known as the Captains chair Martin went and stood beside him, "sitting at ops is Commander Data, sitting next to him at the conn is your crewman Riley, at tactical we have Lieutenant Sovar and on my right we have the ships Counsellor Deanna Troi," said Picard as Picard had said all those names Martin had looked at the faces of the officer's on the bridge. Picard sat down into his chair and Martin proceeded to sit down in his chair it was comfortable, he instantly pulled the Panel which was in front of him towards him, it displayed some of the ships important systems so the Commander could monitor the ship. "Bridge to Engineering are we ready for departure," asked Picard, because only recently they had a new warpcore installed, "yes sir all systems are functional and we are ready to go," replied the Chief Engineer "thank you Geordie," said Picard "Mr. Data would you edge us off backwards on a heading of 22.1 at quarter impulse," said Martin, he had said this because it flashed onto his screen it had come from the starbase to tell them they had clearance to leave and join the small Armada. The Enterprise moved gracefully away from the docking ring and moved backwards out into the main bay, Picard watched as the viewscreen showed the rear of the ship and the bay doors, on the outside he could see the armada of ships waiting for them and an Akira vessel was waiting right next to the doors for entry into the Spacedock.  
  
The Akira class vessel waited, and the Captain of the vessel had no idea which ship was coming out of the starbase but it was taking it's time, as soon as the end of the warp nacelles appeared she automatically knew which vessel it was so she ordered the helmsman to back off a little more to give the Enterprise some more room as soon as the vessel would be clear the other ship would be able to proceed into the starbase.  
  
2 minutes later the Enterprise had emerged fully and was still moving backwards but it was turning towards the left so she would face forwards, the whole manoeuvre had lasted over five minutes until she was completely clear and facing the right way and was now ready to join the armada, "Mr. Data half impulse towards the fleet, Lieutenant Sovar hail the leading vessel and inform them we are ready to take control of the armada," said Martin, Sovar nodded and proceeded. The Enterprise's Impulse engines glowed bright red when they were brought up to half impulse and she was underway, "well no.1, this is it are you ready for your first mission on board the Enterprise," asked Picard, Martin didn't say anything at first but glanced at Picards eyes and then answered him "yes sir I am ready as I ever will be," replied Martin, "well then let's get out their beyond the Alpha quadrant, you can give the order no.1," said Picard to Martin; Martin looked at him and stammered "me sir..." Picard nodded in agreement "Mr. Data take us beyond the alpha quadrant there is a star system, which we have been ordered to make our primary headquarters. We have also located a derelict starbase which we will use to our advantage, also relay this information to the rest of the fleet and they must sustain the maximum velocity of warp 5 no faster," said Martin in one long breath, "proceeding with command sir," said Data, as he finished speaking he got up from Ops and walked over to a sub panel which was on the wall his hand flew across the panel "the message has been relayed," said Data and he went and sat down back down at ops. "Riley are we in position," asked Picard "yes Captain we are in position the armada is waiting for the all clear," replied Riley, Martin sat in his chair and waited for Picard to say his famous words engage but they never came, Martin looked around all eyes were fixed on him "oh sorry I didn't realise." Martin got up from his chair and tugged on the tunic "Riley warp five on my mark.mark," the Enterprise instantly streaked across the space in front of them into area's unknown, Martin had just delivered his first full command on board the Enterprise he was quite happy with himself but he didn't show it.  
  
Martin got up from his chair and turned to Picard and asked "do you mind if I get my laptop from your ready room," Picard nodded and Martin proceeded towards the ready room he walked through the open door and quickly collected the laptop and exited the room the way he came in. Martin walked across the bridge and walked towards the turbolift, Martin moved into the turbolift and proceeded down to his quarters, when Martin exited the turbolift he turned right and walked down the corridor for a bit, he had a room on the outside of the ship looking out into space like he requested it was also the second largest room on the ship next to Picards, and sure enough he came to his room. Martin walked into the room and it was spacious and dull, his things were on and around the bed he had a desk, which he instantly placed his laptop on and he set to work placing items around the room, to make it feel more homely. The main item Martin placed in the room was a picture of the planet Earth he hung it next to doors which entered the room also on the picture their was a starship it was very special to him but their was no name of the vessel on the picture, but he knew her name.  
  
Eventually when Martin finished he settled down to get some work done, not only was he the second in command aboard the vessel, but he also part of a covert operations mission which all of the senior members knew about, the reason Martin was chosen for this mission was because he had a super intelligence which was given to him at the age of five and he's used it ever since. The reason why Martin has never become a Captain yet was the fact that he failed the Captain's test, not because it was hard, because he had to remain as a Commander. He could have easily passed the test but he had done it not to arouse suspicion of other alien races because they would have abducted him to make them there own species and defeat the Federation. Martin was busy reading a file on the Draa'kon because they were supposed to live somewhere on the edge of the Alpha and Delta quadrant but they weren't sure where and they were heading in their supposedly direction. Their was a chime at the door but Martin didn't hear it the first time but he did on the second time, "come in," said Martin as he walked over to the replicator "computer one cup of tomato soup extra croutons," there was a blip of confirmation and a swirl of replicated particles swarmed around the pad in front of him, instantly their was a hot steaming mug of a peculiar looking liquid, Martin was too busy reading a report on the Draa'kon to notice what was in the mug, he picked it up and drank a little but was disgusted with the taste it was Vulcan amak couche it was disgusting to humans but an aphrodisiac to Vulcan's, "Martin to La Forge there is a problem with the replicators, I want it repaired we could be out here for awhile please," asked Martin as he pressed his comm. Badge "I'm already on it sir but thank you for the information I'll have it fixed within the hour," replied La Forge over the comm. "sorry to keep you err." said Martin to the woman who was standing in the room, "the answer you are looking for is Dr. Beverly Crusher," replied the doctor. "You have a clean bill of health, apart from the increase of cirax amino cells which means your working to your best potential and it will slowly drop but not for a few days or weeks," Martin sat down he had never had an increase in over two years which meant their was going to be danger ahead, "thank you Dr. Crusher, and you will already no the rest so there is no point me going into any details, but we have a lot of work to do, to make the weapons and the shields stronger but I suppose I could rest for awhile." The Commander placed down his work and turned the laptop of and settled down into a comfy armchair "sorry Doctor I'm going to have to ask you to leave I haven't rested since yesterday so I think now is as good as time as ever," asked Martin but their was no reply she had already left the room, Martin removed his boots and placed them next to the chair and picked up a paperback book which was on the table, he managed to read the first paragraph and then the book fell from his hand as his head slumped forward in the chair he was slowly drifting of to sleep in the chair.  
  
Martin awoke sometime later and wondered how long he had been asleep, he got up from the chair and looked around they were passing through a Nebula, "computer lights," asked Martin to the computer but the lights didn't come on he walked over to the door and when it opened he was standing in front of a dark pit which stretched across the deck their was no way around it, he felt two hands push him from behind he fell into the hole. Strangely when he landed he was on the bridge the viewscreen was positioned on a Draa'kon vessel which was firing at them and about five more of them dropping out of warp attacking the fleet, the viewscreen changed and it was positioned on the fleet they were being desecrated they were fighting in the Nebula. A large torpedo turret focused on the Enterprise and fired it pierced the hull and the ship was being destroyed the screen went white. Martin woke with a start he didn't know whether or not he was still dreaming, nether the less he placed his boots on, at first he realised the ship wasn't travelling at warp because he could feel that the ship was only travelling at sub-light speeds, "computer time and date," asked Martin "the time is 0853 hours and the date is Tuesday the 22nd," replied the computer Martin was going to be late for his shift which started at 0900, he quickly changed his uniform because the other one was dirty he had worn it for two days, he looked in the mirror straightened his hair and readjusted his uniform so it would be perfect as it would be, Martin replicated some soup and headed to the turbolift he walked out of his quarters and turned left he was greeted with a few officers who smiled at him, Martin took a sip of the drink and it was soup, thank god Geordie had fixed the replicators. An Ensign came running up behind the Commander and handed him a report he gave it a quick glance it was about the problem with the replicators "mind if I keep this I'll give it back to you later," asked Martin she nodded "oh and get rid of this for me," Martin handed her the empty mug and walked into the turbolift with the report in his right hand, "bridge," said Martin the turbolift headed up to the bridge. The Commander knew he was going to be late for his first shift as the turbolift took a detour to deck five for a Lieutenant to get inside and it then headed down to Engineering, "Picard to Miller," said a voice over the comm. "Miller here," replied Martin tapping his badge once, "I don't know how we get up on time on your old ship but on the Enterprise I intend my officer's to be on time, we will skip the court martial this time, but I expect you to be on time," said Picard Martin waited a few seconds before he replied because their was an Ensign getting out of the turbolift, "sorry sir the Turbolift is delaying me I should be with you in a few moments," their was no reply so Martin presumed it was going to be O.K "Picard out," a few seconds later Martin walked out of the turbolift and onto the bridge. He walked towards his chair and sat down, he pulled the console towards him and handed the report to the Captain "sir a report on the replicators they were not functioning last night so I got Geordie to repair them, it says their was a virus in the main frame but it has been corrected apparently it has come from Spacedock, but they say their systems are fine and working," Picard didn't answer he was to busy looking out of the viewscreen they were passing a Nebula a few light years away it was very large it, "No.1 do you think we have time to scan the Nebula," asked Picard, Martin thought back on the dream and wondered he was about to reply but Deanna beat him to it "that would not be advised sir we have orders to take the derelict starbase before any one else gets their sir, and then we can go and search the Nebula," Picard looked at Deanna and said "I suppose your right Deanna but it wouldn't hurt to give it a quick scan now, Riley hail the U.S.S Yosemite and ask them to scan the Nebula and report back to us when they collect enough data but tell them not to enter it I don't want any vessel's to go missing," Riley nodded and sent the message to the vessel, they watched as the Yosemite passed them and headed towards the Nebula.  
  
The Enterprise turned away and headed towards the starbase, which was not far, but they wouldn't be able to scan the Nebula, they were travelling at impulse because their was a sub-anomaly in the area which prevented them from travelling at warp speed. Martin glanced at Deanna and smiled she smiled back but then looked out towards the viewscreen, "sir message from the Yosemite they have detected the Omega particle and they are asking what they should do," said Riley "tell them to get out of their and proceed on their original heading," ordered Picard "send a message to the Klingon vessel Bar'resh and tell them to take control of the Armada, we are going to investigate," Picard was standing now, he turned to Martin and said "No.1 you have the bridge I have some work to do I trust I can leave this up to you," Martin hesitated and replied "yes sir I will carry out the task and I will inform you of our discovery," with that Picard walked of the bridge and into his ready room. Martin stood up and moved over behind Riley "Mr. Riley bring us about and head towards the Nebula full impulse," ordered the Commander Riley's hand darted across the console and the Enterprise turned around and headed towards the Nebula back the way they came, it would take them a few minutes to arrive at the Nebula "Red Alert all hands prepare for battles station's" the klaxons all over the ship were sounded as a warning to the crewman to prepare for battle all the weapons and shields came online they would have to be ready for anything, because their number one goal is to destroy the Omega Particle. It is part of the primary directives, which all Starfleet personal must keep, it is recognised to be a highly unstable particle which can cause mass destruction, it is highly classified and all Starfleet Captains know about it, but Martin and the other crewman didn't know why they were going back to the Nebula, but Picard knew exactly what he had to do, that was why he gave command to Martin so he could tend to this urgent matter. Martin was sitting in the centre seat watching the Nebula loom closer and closer; it was taking longer than they thought the Enterprise was having a little difficulty getting to their location. The Enterprise was picking its way gently through a small asteroid field which for some strange reason was not detecting any of the floating rocks, it was difficult because they could only judge from sight and it took a few seconds to spot a piece of rock, but with a good pilot at the helm they were making good progress. "Miller to Crusher, I would like you to examine some rock from an asteroid belt and find out why we can't detect it," asked Martin as he tapped his comm. Badge "yes Commander, would it be possible to get help from Data he would be very useful to me," replied the Doctor, Martin paused for a second and thought if they were going to encounter anything then the best place for Data would be on the bridge, "sorry Doctor but I think you'll just have to do without him I need him here on the bridge, just in case anything goes wrong other than that you can use any means necessary," replied Martin "I'll get right on it, Crusher out," the comm. Deactivated itself "sorry Data normally I would have said yes but I need your expertise on the bridge," Data didn't reply but nodded as a confirmation and turned and said "sir I have located the Omega Particle, it is at the centre of the Nebula, but sensors do not give me enough information, to get sufficient data we will have to enter the Nebula but that would mean leaving the fleet behind, what are your orders."asked Data but he stopped as Picard walked onto the bridge, "sorry no.1 we have to go onto the planet, stand down Red Alert, also Deanna, Data and Martin would you accompany me to the observation lounge I have a matter which we need to talk about in private, Riley put us on our original course we are now a few hours behind, the other vessels have all jumped to warp leaving us to tend to our own business. Mr. Sovar you have the bridge," said Picard he then walked straight across the bridge and entered the door ahead of him he was followed by the other officer's.  
  
Picard was sitting at the top of the table with the senior member's of staff around him, Beverly and Geordie had joined them it concerned them both, "the reason I have called you here is because we have a small threat on our hands the Omega Particle, you only know the outline of the problem but the Federation has to destroy it, normally it would have been me but our mission is to take the derelict starbase and gain a foot hold in the Delta quadrant," Picard looked around the table at his officer's he knew he could trust them because he had known them all to well except Martin who was slightly a mystery to him, "Martin you have been given a separate mission you are to take your Runabout with 2 officers of your choosing and to go into the centre of the Nebula and find out as much as you can on the Particle at all costs you must not fail, I have had the centre changed of your Runabout to a scientific module so you can study this phenomenon, and then report back to me no one else." Martin started to think who would be the best people to take along with him on this mission, "first of all I would like to say thank you for your choice and secondly I must ask Data and Beverly if they would both come with me I wouldn't have a better pair of scientists with me other than yourself but your duty is to the Enterprise and I would have them back before you missed them," replied Martin he looked across at Data and then at Beverly they both nodded and looked at Picard, "I don't see why not but I want them back in one piece," said Picard with a smile on the face which quickly faded. "How soon do we have to depart from the Enterprise," asked Martin looking at Picard "it would be best to leave now before we get to far away and then we will see you in a day or two," with that the meeting was over and they set to their tasks quickly and efficiently, it was an hour later when Martin and Beverly standing outside the shuttle waiting for Data to arrive all the items they would be taking were on board, "sorry Commander their was a small problem in Engineering which Geordie wanted me to look at," said Data as he walked across the deck towards the Runabout he deposited his items it the cargo section and walked into the shuttle. Martin and Beverly joined him at the cockpit; Martin sat in the centre seat with Data in front of him and Beverly at the side, Martin settled in his chair and watched Data prepare the shuttle for launch. He tapped a stud on the armchair and instantly Picards image appeared, "yes no.1," said Picard, Martin was looking at the face and replied "we are ready to depart from the Enterprise sir we only need your confirmation and we will be on our way," Picard face formed a wizened old man as his eyebrows lifted to form wrinkles in his brow "good luck Commander and we will see you all soon," with that the screen went dark and the shuttle bay returned on the screen. Data's hand gently moved over the console in front of him and the shuttle lifted of the deck and moved out of the main doors they passed through a forcefeild and headed away from the Enterprise and back towards the Nebula which at this speed was a day away, the Enterprise hung around for a few more seconds and it then propelled itself into Warp drive on it's original heading which would take them to rejoin the Armada, the Runabout was on its own it was un- escorted so if they were attacked by any alien species they would surely lose. "Data can we rig up a sort of Warp drive for this sector since our engines are smaller in design to those of the Enterprise," asked Martin Data went into deep thought searching for an answer on the matter "perhaps sir if we re-modulated the deflector dish to match the same density of the Granada molecules and change the flow of the dish, to instead of pushing the molecules out of the way they suck it in and propel us out at speed of approximately 3.5 in Cochranes," Beverly was in awe in what he had said she never really thought Data to be an excellent Chief Engineer. "Well what are you waiting for get to it, it's O.K I know how to fly a shuttle," said Martin, Data hesitated slightly and then moved away from the console and proceeded into the rear of the shuttle, Beverly also left the cockpit to go and sort out what they had in the science lab. Martin was sitting at the helm of the shuttle just watching the Nebula that they were approaching it was really small from their distance but it would be a lot bigger when they finally reached their destination, Data walked in with some dirt on his uniform which he brushed of instantly and walked over to the Commanders chair he opened the small sub-panel which was on the arm of the chair he modified it slightly, sir I have added a new button which will alternate the deflector dish's polarity," with that Data vanished again before Martin had chance to answer he was alone again in the cockpit. When Data eventually returned to the cockpit he was finished and walked over to the helm and sat down, Martin was sitting comfortably in the centre seat "are we ready Data for launch," asked Martin "yes Commander we are ready for the test run," replied Data "engage warp 1 and then increase speed slowly to it's maximum velocity.engage," Martin listened as the shuttle moved faster than the speed of light, stars streaked towards them as their velocity increased, "we are up to warp 2 and no problems as yet," said Data the Nebula was getting larger by the second they would make it ahead of schedule "warp 3, we have a small amount of turbulence nothing more," said Data. Martin knew because he could feel the chair vibrating underneath him "do you think you increase the inertial dampeners to reduce the turbulence," asked Martin, Data didn't reply but turned away from the helm and pressed the console to the right of him instantly the shuttle stopped vibrating.  
  
The Runabout was now waiting outside the Nebula, while they scanned the area for any civilisations or anomalies in the Nebula, "Commander it is positive we have located the Omega particle but to get all this interference we must go further into the Nebula," said Beverly turning to Martin in the chair she was sitting in. Martin walked out of the room closely followed by Beverly, "Data take us in full impulse and warn me if we come across any unusual activity I will be in the rear, sorting through the information we have gathered," said Martin he walked through the lab where Beverly was working again and proceeded into the small sleeping area which had 4 bunk beds a replicator, a table surrounded by four chairs and a desk with Martins laptop on it. Martin went over to the repilcator and replicated a tomato soup, which he carried over to the desk and set to work reading through reports which held no useful information, about half an hour later Martin had given up and was sitting back in his chair watching the Nebula move past them. Martin stood up and with a concern walked over to the shuttles window they were passing through an open area of space and he saw something delve out of the Nebula and then disappear back into the cloud, "Martin to Data," Martin had pressed his communicator "Data here Commander," replied the Android over the intercom "are we picking up any usual activity on the starboard side of the ship," asked Martin, Data took a few seconds to reply as he checked the sensor logs "sir what you saw was a mirror image of the shuttle it seems that the clouds actually reflect images," Martin looked out of the window "er. Data is the mirror image meant to charge at us," asked Martin "no sir it should be following our every move," said Data, Martin backed away from the window "Beverly, Data grab onto something that is no mirror image it's going to ram us," Martin quickly grabbed hold of the bulkhead just as the shuttle was hit with such a force that the tables and chairs toppled over. Martin was lying on the floor as he rubbed his head, at first he didn't know where he was but their was smoke pouring from the ceiling as the light was dangling from the ceiling, their was shattered glass all over the floor their were conduits hanging open with circuitry hanging from places that Martin never knew they had, Martin stood up and gingerly made his way across the deck into the next room. Beverly was just getting to her feet she had a large gash across her head which was bleeding slightly the lab was even worse than the sleeping quarters, the lights were flickering and the floor was strewn with bits of bulkhead, Beverly brushed back some hair from her face and looked around the lab and frowned. The shuttle was pitched to the right, the Doctor and the Commander were thrown across the room into the bulkhead as the ship rocked causing more damage "where's Data," asked Martin getting to his feet and helping Beverly stand up "he should be still in the cockpit," the two of them walked on through the doors into the cockpit Data was their but most of the console's and conduits were either damaged or blinking on and off the helm was working O.K because Data had re-routed emergency power to his console to keep the shuttle moving. Martin moved to centre seat and brushed some metal of the chair and sat down, "Data what hit us," asked Martin "I'm not exactly sure sensors are offline and what ever it is does not like our presence in the Nebula, I have however managed to find a reasonable hiding place for now but I'm not sure how long it will last," Data turned around and his face was badly burnt as the console next to him had leaked plasma, "Data are you alright the burns aren't interfering with any of your major systems," asked Beverly as she got her medical tricorder and scanned Data "no Doctor my prosthetic skin is doing me no harm but we have more urgent matters to take care of we must repair the shuttle in the event that we can no longer hide," replied Data "what needs repairing," said Martin "weapons and sensors first we may need them, and the secondly we need to repair the Warp drive and get impulse back up to full power, other than that all the other systems will have to wait until we get out of the Nebula to call for help there is no chance we will be able to get communications out at this distance," replied Data.  
  
Data assigned them their tasks and they set to work with the three of them working on the major systems it shouldn't take them too long to get the shuttle ready once again, Martin was trying to repair the weapons but was having difficulty trying to connect all the wires they had either been fried in the initial attack the circuit boards had been burned. Martin removed a chip and placed it somewhere else he was using his super intelligence to get around the ships systems he was doing alright for himself, he had received a few minor electric shocks but nothing major, "computer is the weapons online," asked Martin "the weapons are online and ready," replied the computer. Martin slid out from underneath the conduit and looked at the console it was working, Martin picked himself of the floor and dusted down his uniform and pressed some buttons on the panel and most of the ships systems came back online. The cockpit was still untidy but with all three of them working together they had managed to get the cockpit fully operational the rest of the systems were online but their power would run out because they were running on backup systems the only chance they would be able to replenish the shuttles energy if they were to find a really high concentration of Dilitithium in the area but the chances of that was remote, "Commander the impulse engines are in working order but the Warp drive is suffering we will have to alternate the deflector dish back so she will work more efficiently, other than that we are ready the shields are partially online but they could fail at any moment so what ever attacked us we had better try and reason with or the alternative is we destroy it," said Data as he returned to his work station Martin thought their only chance would be to find the creature and destroy it would at least a day for any ship to come and rescue them even then the chances were very slim they weren't meant to head back to the derelict starbase for at least another two days so no search party would come for them they wouldn't even realise that they were missing. "We have only one option we must destroy the creature before it destroys us know it's wrong but we have more important issues on our hand, Mr. Data take us out of hiding and head for the Omega Particle and if we encounter the creature we will be ready for it," ordered Martin. The Runabout moved out from behind a small asteroid and steadily went on their original heading deeper into the Nebula, in front of them a small creature was approaching them really quickly it looked a stingray from Earth but it had spines all along it's back and a tail with what looked like a mace and it swung it from side to side. A lot more of them appeared as the shuttle moved forwards they wouldn't last long if they attacked but somehow they didn't attack, then like it was a bad dream a large object was in front of them it looked like a giant scorpion but it was made of metal and it had turrets all around it's body, "Data can we hide because I think it would be a really good idea, because that I am afraid that is a Draa'kon vessel and from the look of it's weapons they are not happy to see us," said the Commander, they watched as the weapons turned and faced the small shuttle, Martin pressed a few buttons on his armchair and said "I am Commander Martin Miller of the Runabout the U.S.S Shockwave, we mean you no harm," their was no reply and then their was a noise from behind him, he pressed another button on the armchair and a face appeared on the screen "I am the High Implementor Hajj and you are trespassing in our space leave now or be destroyed," the face went blank and Martin had no other choice they were not capable of destroying a vessel of that size "I agree to your terms but we have no choice we have been badly attacked by one of those creatures around you and are not capable of acting out an act of war," said Martin his brow was damp slightly from perspiration the alien started laughing "if you were nearly destroyed by one of our pets you are a worthless creature but none the less you still trespassed and you have been warned enter our space again and you will regret it, now go or we will destroy your insignificant vessel," the alien started laughing and was joined in by others around him the screen went dark "Data turn us around and take us back the way we came and as soon as we reach the edge send out an emergency frequency for any Federation vessel to pick up." Martin stopped speaking because as the shuttle descended below the Draa'kon vessel they saw a the Omega Particle and next to that a planet with plenty of Draa'kon vessels around it was their homeworld.  
  
Picard was sitting on the bridge thinking, something was worrying him he looked out at the derelict starbase which was barely operational all it would need was a few power chambers and it would be ready to support life, the Enterprise had sent a message back to Starfleet to ask to have some colony vessels and some more Nebula class vessels so they could have the starbase fully furnished and ready for action. On searching through some old logs, which was easy to understand, as they were written in English they said that the starbase had been left to rot because they were in the middle of a very dangerous situation but it hadn't mentioned what it was so they would have to make do with what they had. Picard wondered how his first officer, Data and Beverly were getting on, it was getting late and Picard had been awake all day so he decided it was time for him to turn in. he walked over to the turbolift and said computer "dim the bridges lights by 5.1, and I want to head to deck 3," he entered the turbolift and headed down to deck three the reason he had dimmed the lights on the bridge because their was going to be no one on watch apart from the computer the shields were up so no one could beam across to the Enterprise and as a safety precaution, "computer activate lockdown on bridge and battle bridge, Picard theta 51236," said Picard to the computer as he entered his quarter's the was a noise of confirmation and it was complete no one could access the bridge without Picards command codes and his voice print, Picard slipped into bed and rested his head against the pillow it was soft and Picards eyes slowly closed and he drifted of to sleep.  
  
An alarm sounded from somewhere next to Picards bed he pressed an alarm clock and it was deactivated, he got washed and had a sonic shower and he then made his way up to the bridge, "computer deactivate lock down on bridge and battle bridge code alpha 51236," ordered Picard as he entered the turbolift, deck1 and the turbolift shuddered as it travelled up three decks to the bridge, it slowed to a halt as it reached the bridge as the doors opened Picard stepped out and walked over to his seat and then instantly bridge officer's started to walk around him to their places on the bridge, "good morning Counsellor I trust you slept well," asked Picard, Deanna turned to towards and him and replied "thank you did as well I presume," he nodded in agreement. "Lieutenant Sovar patch me through to the starbase," asked Picard, "yes sir I'm opening channel now," replied the Lieutenant, a face appeared on the screen "could you put me through to my Chief Engineer," asked Picard to the operator who was handling all communication instructions to the starbase, the screen went black, "La Forge here, sorry I cant send visual I'm no where near I monitor," replied Geordie "Geordie I would like to know your progress on how the systems are managing over there," asked Picard "well to tell you the truth sir we are managing O.K, I can give you another hour before we get every thing operational and online then we can start to transfer belongings from the carriers to refit the starbase with all the latest Starfleet technology," replied Geordie "and another thing sir would ask the fleet to give me as many more Engineers as possible, it would make the job a lot faster to get her refitted," Picard thought about it a second "I'll see what I can do at this end Geordie other than that, Picard out," the channel went dead and the picture of the starbase reappeared. "All hands this is the Captain speaking, would all personal with any experience of electronics and Engineering please go aboard the starbase where you will be given orders to follow by either our Chief Engineer or any other major role over their," Picard had said all this over the ships intercom, "that's including you all on the bridge as well I can hold the fort here for awhile," ordered Picard instantly all the officers stood up and walked over to the nearest turbolift and left the bridge Picard and Deanna were the only other two humanoid lifeforms on the bridge. "Well Deanna looks as though it's just you and me" said Picard with a smile, "would you like to take the helm or the conn," she left the chair at his side and sat at the conn. Picard got up and sat at the helm all they had to do was just sit there and watch the work and keep an eye on the Enterprise.  
  
"Why wont a message get through to the Enterprise it's as if there is a block in the way," said Martin he was getting desperate even though they were on the outside of the Nebula they were still having problems with the communications "Martin if we were to use Warp drive we will be at the starbase in no time and not have to worry about communications and you can have your shuttle repaired and we can come back with a stronger ship," said Beverly, Martin agreed with her and they set off at warp 2 they were having problems with the inertial dampeners and if they were to fail it would tare the shuttle apart it would take them a day to reach the edge of the space where they could use full Warp drive and be able to travel at warp 9 to reach the starbase which would be ready for them when they returned. Martin got up and went to the very rear of the ship where he could get some rest as for the floor they hadn't gotten round to clear up all they had concentrated on was getting the major systems back online and getting ready in the event of an attack, Martin was fully clothed but climbed onto the bottom bunk and fell asleep. He dreamed that he was on the Enterprise and he was sitting in the centre seat attacking the Borg with all their strength, but a stray shot pierced the hull and hit Martin square in the chest he awoke with a start Beverly was standing over him, "Martin we have run in to a small problem," Martin quickly got of the bottom bunk and looked out of the window they were slowing down. Martin walked from the rear of the shuttle and into the cockpit and as he entered the cockpit he saw an comet hurtling towards them, "Data can we dodge it," asked Martin "the answer to that question would be no, we no longer have impulse or warp speed to take us off this heading," replied Data Martin sat down in his chair a bit heavily he placed his head in his hands and realised this could be the end of his life he just sat their and watched the comet come closer and closer. "Are we able to destroy it Data," said Martin with a reasonable amount of doubt in his voice "our weapons would have no effect for one all our torpedo casings are either damaged or empty, and the phasers wouldn't even cause a scratch," replied the Android, Beverly walked forward and said "do we have any means necessary out of this situation or are we just going to die," Data turned to towards another panel and calculated the trajectory of the comet, "the answer would be if we could gain enough speed we could be able to slingshot around the comet but it would cost us we would lose the shuttle because the comet is highly unstable and if we were to alter the gravimetric pull on it, the comet would break into smaller pieces from it's tail destroying the Runabout and those aboard it," said Data. Martin was even more worried now he was unsure what they should do but he would have to make their choice soon as they only had 10 minutes left, "do we have any environmental suits onboard," said Beverly suddenly "yes we should have four but I never checked if they were damaged or not," replied Martin, Martin left the chair and dropped to the floor he pressed a button on the bottom of the chair he had been sitting on and a secret compartment opened in the floor to reveal 4 suits but on close inspection only 2 of them were in working order. "Data you don't breathe if I remember rightly from the duck blind mission," Data nodded and watched Martin pull out the suits, "go on Beverly what was your idea," said Martin as he glanced over the two environmental suits "well what I was thinking was we could pack everything we can into the lab and seal the doors and eject it onto the surface of the comet, then we get Data to stabilize it on the surface so we can energize into the lab saving all the data we saved and most of the shuttle for pickup from another Federation vessel," said Beverly, Martin and Beverly looked at Data, "that could be possible and it is worth a try and if the worst comes to the worst then you two would be able to survive in space for awhile before a vessel could reach us," said Data. The plan was formulated between them, Martin and Data had worked it out down to the last second, for the plan to work they would have to eject the lab in the last 2 minutes and then they would transport Beverly and Martin onto the lab and hopefully everything would go to plan, Beverly and Martin struggled into the environmental suits and gathered as much as they could they were replicating food and weapons from around the shuttle and piling them into the lab they then got into position in the cockpit where the transporters was kept. The last two minutes approached "Data eject the lab now," shouted Martin as he placed the helmet on the top of his environmental suit, there was a loud noise in front of them and they saw the lab pass over them, Data was standing on the transport pad where his molecular structure would be transferred to the surface of the comet, Martin moved his fingers up the console where small lights were activated sending Data's molecules down to the surface where he would be ready for the lab. "Computer set the emergency transport to the lab for two people timer 15 seconds from my command.engage," Martin moved across the deck and onto the transporter pad where Beverly was already standing, they were encased by a blue beam which would transfer their bodies to the lab. When they re-materialized in the lab the shuttle had passed around the other side of the comet and went out of view, their was a large explosion which sent a rippling effect through the lab where Data was waiting for Martin and Beverly, the shuttle had exploded but their was still no sign of them, just as Data turned around they were standing their removing their helmets with Data watching the shuttle he hadn't realised where his friends were. None of them knew how long they were going to be there so they would have to make the best of it.  
  
Picard was still sitting at the helm on his own as Deanna had joined the Engineering team on the starbase, apparently the Enterprise was down to her minimum crew size of 50 since most of the ship was unoccupied Picard was wondering whether or not to cut power to some of the ships systems but if they were called into battle while the vessel was shut down they would have to reactivate the ship which take up a lot of time, so Picard decided against it. Picard was just watching a flashing light on the helm which he didn't realise what it was at first, but instantly he realised and he quickly walked over to tactical and pressed a few buttons and on the main viewing screen a face appeared, "Captain I have a request to ask would it be possible for me to rejoin the ships roster," said the man on the view screen Picard's face formed a smile and he replied with "well Will normally I would, but you have traded positions for awhile but I am sure I could do with a friend to talk to, how long will it take for me to expect your arrival with the ships I requested," Riker's face changed slightly and replied "I'm sorry sir but I am already here," he said it with a smile and he materialized on the bridge, he was standing in front of Picard "my time of arrival would be now, to the answer of your question," the view screen went blank and the starbase returned on the screen. Picard held out his hand for Riker to shake it and Riker grabbed it and shook it firmly as an old friend, "when did you arrive," asked Picard "I arrived only a few moments ago on the U.S.S Incursion it's been sent to us for it's technology as we may need it, also on my way here we picked up a distress call from a Runabout but we weren't able to locate it on sensors," said Riker Picard's face changed for a few seconds but it faded instantly he pressed his comm. Badge and said "would all the Enterprise crew please return to the Enterprise we have an urgent mission to tend to now," Picard turned to Riker "would you please take your usual seat for now, I think I'm going to need your help, oh and by the way the shave wasn't necessary while your on board," said Picard as he turned and sat down in his chair he was smiling again but it didn't last long, Picard had to wait for a few minutes for the ship to be ready while the crew was assembled. The bridge crew had arrived on the bridge followed by Deanna who paused as she saw Riker; she sat down and looked out onto the viewscreen, "Lieutenant Sovar are we all accounted for and ready," asked Riker the Lieutenant checked his sensor readings and replied "yes sir we are all accounted for and ready," Picard stood up and gave out his orders "Lieutenant Commander Riley take us out full impulse and on the heading of where that communication was detected and as soon as we are clear of the starbase take us up to maximum warp.engage," the Enterprise moved away from the starbase and headed back towards the Nebula at maximum speed. "Riker I don't think you have been told but the Omega Particle is in this sector and the Runabout you detected was doing a survey mission and on board is Commander Miller, and if the shuttle is in danger we have to get to him before anyone else does," said Picard, they were watching out of the viewscreen the Enterprise would take 5 hours to reach them as they would have to travel around the Nebula because the emergency beacon had appeared from the far side of the Nebula. On the bridge it was very tense, they were not sure what they were going to find but what ever it was it might not be pretty, "Lieutenant Sovar Red Alert," the ship moved up to Red Alert, the ships klaxons were heard all over the ship to tell the crew to prepare for an emergency if their was one. Riker was sitting in his chair, he looked at his palms they were sweating slightly he was unsure what was coming and whether or not any of the crew aboard the ship were hurt or dead, these things always made a Starfleet officer always nervous you never knew what you were going to find. "Sir we have detected the last place were the Runabout was, but checking sensors she is no longer here," said the Ensign, "well keep on scanning the area they must be here somewhere," replied Picard, "Deanna what can you feel in this area," asked Picard as he turned to her for advice, but Deanna looked back at him her face was blank it would be the first time since she had lost her empathic powers on the Enterprise D that she couldn't sense anything. "I'm sorry Captain but I cant sense anything, it's as though the Nebula is shielding it's secrets from me, I can only sense things within the Enterprise's bulkheads and no where else beyond that," said Deanna her heart was quite heavy now, she wouldn't be able to help. Picard was skimming his eyes across the viewscreen as a sign for any debris anything to suggest that the Runabout had been destroyed; Picard knew that Martin couldn't be dead because his Runabout was still sitting in the shuttle bay and Martin would be damned that if he were going to die, if he was going to die it would be aboard his Runabout.  
  
Martin was fiddling around with some wires under a conduit he was using his super intelligence to create a makeshift communications array as the array had been destroyed along with the rest of the Runabout, "Data try that," said Martin as he lifted his head slightly to look at Data, "power output is down by 5% but the array is working but we don't know for how long," replied Data, they were using scrap materials from the lab interior, "the only communications we can send out is low frequency which would take a decade to reach a starbase, but even then it would be too heavily distorted to find where we have crash landed," said Martin, Martin sat next to the array and prodded it with a hyper-wrench and he managed to send out a low impulse wave which would just sound like a high pitch buzzing to the human ear but if you slowed it down by 65% it would turn into a message this would be their only chance of survival they were hoping that a passing starship would pick it up and come and rescue them. Beverly was counting out supplies and checking over what food they had, she had everything arranged in neat piles, she also had cleaned the shuttle so they could at least get some rest, Martin had managed to rescue his laptop which was now acting as a crude message relay, it was working quite well because if a ship got close enough the laptop would pick up their receiver and send an automated message which was built into the laptop. They had been in that Runabout for over 2 days and a half, as they hadn't left the Runabout since they had left the Enterprise. Martin had stubble growing on his face which Beverly wanted to attack because she hated it, but the Commander wouldn't let her, he reassured her that he would remove it once they got back to civilisation. For few hours Martin had ventured out of the shuttle for a short time, as he had started a small experiment to get away from some of Beverly's annoying habits such as every time she was working she would start humming a tune to herself but Martin held his tongue as he would be spending a lot of time with them. Martins experiment was keeping his mind working, he had built a make shift solar panel which would eventually help supply the lab with sufficient power to give the communications array more power to run at a higher level so the message would be picked up a lot faster, when Martin had re-entered the lab Beverly and Data were busy talking about what they would do when they got back to the Enterprise, they included the Commander in the conversation as well to take their minds of the possibility that they could be stuck here forever, the lab suddenly started to shake from a quake around the lab, Data looked out of the window and he saw that they were slowly moving away from the comet, the quake had destabilized the rock around them and since they were attached to the rock they started to drift away from the comet, the lab gave a small shudder and it came to a stand still "sir the contraption you were making seems to be tethering us to the comet but with the strain of the rock and lab I don't think it would last long, what is the plan of action," Martin looked out of the small window and he saw his solar panel straining under the weight of both the comet and the rock which had broken off, "the only chance we are going to get if we boost as much power as we can into the communications array and get a ship to our aid a lot faster, the solar panel can provide power for a short time but it wouldn't be long term," said Martin, Beverly was going to protest but it was too late Data had already set to work the lights and life support were dropping very quickly, so Martin and Beverly placed their environmental suits on just in case life support went offline all the power was being channelled into the array and if it didn't work they were going to be in so much trouble.  
  
Back on board the Enterprise. "Still no sign of them sir, but we have given a clean sweep of another sector and still no sign of the shuttle or any debris," said Lieutenant Robinson, Picard was running out of time he would have to abandon the search soon for another vessel to take up the search, as they would have to return to the starbase. "Ensign turn us about and head back to the starbase." he was cut off by Lieutenant Sovar "sir I think I have located them they are half a light year away from us on a heading of 12.24," Picard left his chair and replied "set us on that course and let's go and get them," the Enterprise turned ever so slightly and her impulse engines glowed as she glided towards the comet, "Captain their they are," said Deanna excitedly, but it quickly faded as she was on the bridge and she had to set an example to the other bridge officers, Riker was smiling to himself he hadn't seen her like that in awhile. "Riker to transporter room one can you get a lock on the Runabout and beam them into shuttle bay 1," the was an awkward few seconds as their was no answer but as they watched out of the viewscreen, the cord that was holding them to comet snapped and the rock started spinning, "transporter room have you got them," asked Riker their was still no answer, but eventually their came a reply "sir we are still out of range we need another 15 metres," replied the transporter operator, "Lieutenant Riley take us in another 16 metres and be quick about it," ordered Picard. The Enterprise headed forwards again the rock from the comet was spinning out of control, if they didn't get them quickly the comet would destroy them as it was highly unstable, "are we in range," asked Riker, "we only need two more metres but we are cutting it close sir they only have a minute left before they are destroyed by the comet as they enter the tail," said Lieutenant Robinson, they were cutting it too close by far and if they weren't fast enough they would lose both the Runabout and the crew and even more the Enterprise as she was being pulled towards the comet as it acted as a large gravity well pulling things in towards it. "Sir I have the Runabout's lab but their is only two lifesigns," said the transport operator, Deanna used her empathy powers to locate the third person and she automatically said "Data is missing he must be on the rock," Picard jumped up and spoke loudly in quite an angry voice, "transporter room get a lock on Da." he stopped as the rock collapsed as it collided with another piece of rock, Martin appeared on the bridge still wearing the environmental suit, "Data was outside when the tether snapped did we get him," asked Martin but he looked at the faces and he realised that they hadn't, "Transporter room three to the bridge, we have him here transporter room one had him locked in the buffer, so we transported him into room three, he's a bit disorientated but he's fine," the comm. went down and their was a sigh of relief across the bridges staff, but they weren't out of the woods yet, "La Forge to the bridge, we should get out of here the comet is interfering with the impulse engines and we could be destroyed if we don't move now," said the Chief Engineer over the ships intercom, "we've taken it into an account, get us out of here maximum impulse," ordered Picard, "engage," the Enterprise quickly moved out of the way of the comet if they hung around for a minute longer they would have been destroyed by the comet but she was on her way again with her crew intact.  
  
"Well this is a happy reunion," said Picard as he looked around at the six officers, around the observation lounge, Picard was sitting at the head of the table, with Riker and Martin on each side of him as a sign of rank. "I would like to welcome Riker back to the Enterprise, as he is here on business as you are looking at the person who will take charge of starbase, as soon as we return," said Picard all the officers looked around at him, and he smiled at them as a way of saying thank you. "The reason I called this urgent meeting is because we were not expecting the Omega particle to be in this area so without further a due, as soon as we have rested and spent some time on the new starbase then we have to proceed into the Delta quadrant to find some new allies," said Picard, all the officers were quite happy as they hadn't been in the Delta quadrant before but Voyager had spent seven years in the Delta quadrant evading the Borg and many other new species, their main concern was to get more races to join them, the Federation in it's war with the Dominion had made things worse as many people in the United Federation of Planets has been killed. "Until then I grant you freedom from travelling from the starbase to the Enterprise," said Picard as he was intending to spend some quality time on the holodeck, as he hadn't used them in a while, but unbeknown to Picard, Martin was going to take his Runabout the U.S.S Storm and head back towards the Nebula as his Runabout was more advanced than the usual selection as he had every disposable new item equipped to the Runabout he had also modified it so it would manage all the systems. What made the shuttle so unique that it would be capable of disabling a Borg Cube with only a touch of a button, it also had all the latest technology, so she was made the Commanders personal shuttle craft. Martin was heading down to his room to gather a few items and then he was going to head to shuttle and leave the Enterprise, he gathered up some clothes and removed his uniform and put some civilian clothing on so without his uniform he wouldn't be able to take orders, he was wearing a long leather jacket which came to knee height a black t-shirt and jeans he was also an expert on life from the 1990's to 2100 so he had decided to wear their clothes, their was only one thing missing which he replicated and it was a pair of sunglasses which he placed across his eyes he was ready. He attached his phaser and a tricorder to his waist and slung a phaser rifle over his shoulder and he then picked up his bag and left his quarters, he was getting peculiar looks from crewman as he passed them but he didn't care he had also placed his communicator on the inside of the leather coat so it wouldn't be noticed. "Shuttle bay 1," said Martin the turbolift shoved off with a little bit of turbulence which it stopped as it head down to the shuttle bay where Martins Runabout was waiting. Martin exited the turbolift and walked straight across to his shuttle where he placed his items down on the deck and he ran over to main hangar bay control panel he activated it and bypassed security and he opened the hangar doors, the forcefield surrounding the entrance was sealed the only thing which would pass through now was the Runabout, he entered the shuttle but as he was about to close the shuttles door he turned as the hanger doors opened and he saw Data, Riker and Deanna "Martin we know what you are planning," said Data only a few months back Data, had joined Picard to defend the Baku's home world, also alongside Deanna, Beverly and their long time friend Worf went along with them, Picard had protested but they were already out of uniform so they couldn't take orders, Martin shook his head, and turned to enter the shuttle but the forcefield was deactivated as Data had fired at the forcefield which made it collapse, "the thing is sir you wont be going alone as we have the Cousteau already waiting for you when you leave the hangar, onboard is Geordie, Beverly and Picard the Enterprise will remain here as she is at bigger threat if she is destroyed as she could be seen well before we entered the Nebula," said Data, Martin didn't have a choice but they were out of uniform, "Picard to Miller you have 5 minutes to get out of their or the Enterprise will be heading back to Deep Space Nine with you on board, the Enterprise needs her senior officers so I am sending her to be protected by Worf where he will command her and bring her back here ready for us just in case in an emergency," their communications ended. Martin beckoned them into his shuttle they were amazed how much the Runabout looked as they entered it one by one, it was highly decorated like that of a starship but it was still a shuttle at least every wall was covered in panels of diagnostics weapons sensors and tucked away to one side was the transporter it was the exact replica of that to the Enterprise D but of a tenth smaller, the cockpit was arranged differently for a start the floor was grey carpet around the edge and red in the centre, the centre seat had been replaced with that of the Defiant's so Martin could control any part of the shuttle. They were too busy looking around the interior of the shuttle, too busy to watch Martin too prepare the shuttle for take off, Martin pressed a button on the centre seat's console and the shuttle went up blue alert. The senior officers came around and realised what was happening, Martin gave them their spaces to sit at Data took the helm, Riker was at weapons and Deanna was at sensors, Martin was sitting in the centre seat "computer delete voice prints 224 and 331 and engage new voiceprints," said Martin their was a blip of confirmation Riker was going to touch the panel in front of him but Martin stopped him quickly, "that would be unwise the runabout does not recognise you and it my security systems would probably shock you to death," said Martin "just speak and she will take your voices into consideration," Martin nodded towards Deanna, "I am Deanna Troi of the starship Enterprise," their was a noise from somewhere above them, "Confirmed, Welcome aboard Deanna Troi," and in turn, Riker and Data did the same. The Runabout lifted of the deck smoothly and gently as Data was at the Helm and he was excellent and piloting shuttles, they passed through the forcefield, which held the vacuum of space out of the ship, Martin saw the Cousteau, it was hanging in space waiting for the Runabout to join them. The Cousteau belonged to the Captain it was called the Captains yacht, he used it for delicate missions but it's counterpart was destroyed in the atmosphere of the Baku's home world, the newer version was a lot stronger as it had been upgraded slightly Picard had been thinking of a new name for the shuttle but he couldn't resist calling it the Cousteau, the Runabout slowed to a halt as she approached the smaller vessel. From where Martin was sitting he could see into the cockpit of the shuttle, he could see the senior officers sitting around Picard, "Picard to the Storm, are we ready to proceed," said Picard over the intercom, Martin was going to answer but stopped as the Enterprise flew past the shuttles and jumped into Warp drive Martin held his hand in front of his eyes as the Enterprise travelled at a speed faster than light, "yes sir we are ready," replied Martin he looked over towards the other shuttle and he saw Beverly wave at them as a sign of confirmation, both shuttles set their course and they headed back towards the Nebula it would take them 3 hours as they had both re-modulated their Warp drives so it was possible for them to travel at warp across The Zone.  
  
Martin left his chair and walked into the rear of the cockpit, Riker looked at him and followed, the centre room had been re-designed it was an office and eating area, and then behind the desk their was a scientific panel with sensors and shield harmonics and a lot of other data what Riker found interesting was that their were ladders on the wall that led down to another level of the shuttle. Martin climbed down the ladder and he crawled into a jefferies tube which was only just big enough for him, Riker wanted to follow but didn't he sat in a comfy armchair on one side of the room. Martin was looking at some equipment, which he wasn't meant to have on board it was cloaking device Martin had developed it for the shuttle, and it was fully operational and it obscured them the naked eye and sensors and with the Runabout being small it was suited to the task but it also had one other quirk it could fire while being cloaked, as Martin had rigged the cloaking device through the engines and the weapons and other systems was on another, so their was sufficient power to run the whole shuttle. Martin was checking it just in case they might need it but it would only be used as a last resort, Martin resurfaced from the underbelly of the shuttle and was slightly embarrassed about Riker sitting on the other side of the room, Martin brushed some dirt of the leather jacket and placed it around the back of his chair, he then opened his laptop and looked at Riker as he sat down, "Riker this shuttle has been my home for a long time and all I want to say what's mine on this shuttle is yours, and vice versa for Deanna and Data so you can make yourself at home," said Martin his cheeks flushed slightly as he hadn't intended that any of the senior officers would see the interior of his shuttle. Martin took no further notice of Riker and set to work reading the sensor readings from their previous attempt at destroying the Omega Particle, over the top of the report from time to time Martin watched Riker walk around the room, he was looking at the display panels, he was looking at one of them which Martin knew was the panel for the cloaking device, the information on it was at the very bottom but his eyes were still at the top. Before Riker had the chance of reading it, Martin pressed a button on his desk and the panel switched it off, Riker was about to say something but Martin beat him to it, "it always does that I'll have it repaired in a few seconds I can repair it from here," Riker said no more but walked out of the room, the door closed behind him "Data can you scan the shuttle for any unusual equipment," asked Riker as he walked across the cockpit and towards Data. "Sir the shuttle is made out of a metal which I have never seen before," Riker didn't no what to say but whirled around as someone spoke behind him, "no Data you haven't it's very top secret it's only been invented by me, it's made of a certain metal that I found, it's very dense and it prevents sensors from penetrating it, also it is very strong it can deflect some of the phaser fire from an enemy vessel but if it is concentrated on the same point over and over again it will eventually weaken, but with sensors not being able to penetrate it they can't get a lock so the shuttle is practically untouchable," said Martin but he wasn't finished, "the Runabout has two sets of shield emitters and the second set will be instantly activated if the first set drops below 10% which I'm very proud of, if you haven't noticed yet but this shuttle is very different from others because I built it myself, and that is why I had all these safety precautions in place," Martin was about finished when Riker interrupted him "what about the cloaking device," asked Riker, Martin walked across the shuttle and sat in his seat, "I was going to tell you about it but Riker has already spilled beans so to speak, the cloaking device is their as I have built it, I saw the one aboard the Defiant and I knew I had to build one, this was before I joined the ships roster as I spent most of my time aboard Deep Space Nine, and one of my routine jobs was to check the Defiant's main systems which included the Cloaking Device, during my off time I spent most of it repairing this shuttle which was sitting in the shuttle bay a wreck, it was the U.S.S Orinoco, I asked Sisko if I could purchase it from him he agreed and that's how I came by the shuttle, I sort of accidentally came across the cloaking device's plans as I was downloading the whole database from the Defiant to my Runabout and I built a miniscule version as you can see and it does work and that my friends is how I have everything aboard my shuttle, I have everything capable of stopping or destroying every species the Federation has encountered and I intend to put the shuttle to its test as I haven't actually tested it in battle yet," Martin had finished speaking, he was looking at the officers in the cockpit and they were looking at him stunned, Martin was thinking to himself he could get into serious trouble for having all the equipment which the Federation had banned, he was respiring quite heavily as he was unsure what was coming next. Deanna was the first to speak, "I believe I'm right in saying that if Starfleet knows about this Runabout then they will take it from you and analyse it tear it apart and apply it's technology to the rest of Starfleet," their was silence again but this time it wasn't as awkward. "Now you know about the Runabout I'm going to have to ask you not to say anything about it, with it being on the Enterprise we have a small advantage against old foes," said Martin he looked at the officer's faces for a sign they wouldn't breathe a word, he looked at Riker who nodded, then at Deanna who said "yes," Martin looked at Data, but Data would have a problem as he was unable to lie, but he was able to hide things from people which he knew was possible, "on the event that I am an android and I am incapable of lying then I would be able to say yes, but on the other hand I am allowed to withhold information which I deem necessary not to hand out, and I believe this is one of them," Martin smiled at Data as it was a great relief to know that all three officers were going to respect his wishes. "Eventually I will tell Starfleet about the Runabout but until then it will remain hidden from Starfleet," the senior member's of the Enterprise went back to their work as once again the Nebula was looming ever closer and this time they would have to protect the Cousteau as she was more vulnerable than the Runabout.  
  
Picard was sitting at the helm watching the Runabout in front of them, he was wondering why the shuttle appeared on the sensors as a very dim light while the Cousteau was larger in comparison he thought it must be with the difference of technology but he didn't think about it any longer he was too busy watching for the asteroid field that would be upon them in a few minutes as the scans had revealed earlier by Geordie and Beverly, the two of them were huddled over the sensor panels as they were figuring out a way of penetrating the Nebula before they even got their as interference seemed to get in the way of long range sensors and with Deanna on the Storm and her telepathic abilities useless they were going to have major problems trying to change the re-calibration of the sensors. "Can we not tie our sensors into the deflector dish so we are able to use them as a feed back loop like an echo," asked Beverly, Geordie shook his head "no the problem with that is with the polarity of the deflector dish working negatively, we would probably blow out the deflector dish completely as the systems are already overloaded with power," and since Geordie was the Enterprise's Chief Engineer his opinion was greatly valued, "when you two have quite finished I have to inform you we are approaching the asteroid field," said Picard he was looking at them, they could tell Picard meant business as his brows were slightly angled in a frown which made the two officers stop what they were doing and get to their places. Its not as though Picard had never done it before he had done asteroid hopping, by only using the RC thrusters, a few years back with the Enterprise D as they power was being drained and the asteroid field was too dangerous as theta radiation was leaking onto the ship, making the crews performance drop, the Runabout was ahead of them as she entered the asteroid field it was avoiding them as if their was no tomorrow. The Cousteau entered few minutes behind them as she was following the course Data had sent them, as the gravity wells would be too much for the shuttle to handle and the course they were on would take them away from them, Picard had turned the sensor's offline the best idea when piloting through an asteroid field was to go purely on eyesight as sensors could be sometimes misleading, Picard was enjoying himself as he passed by a particularly large piece of rock she was gliding with ease past the chunks of rock, but with the sensors offline they wouldn't be able to detect a small piece of rock. Picard passed by a small piece of rock, which was roughly the same size as the shuttle, but nonetheless they passed it by an inch and if it had been planned they ploughed right into a small piece of rock, which was caught in the deflector dish. Picard heard it enter the dish and it was pushed so violently into the right warp nacelle that it damaged the nacelle, their was a small explosion from the nacelle which was heard through out the shuttle, it started to leak plasma, with the plasma being blown out at a tremendous rate it propelled the shuttle towards a piece of rock which was quite large. Picard managed to avoid it but it caught the starboard nacelle, and the ramscoop was smashed instantly which sent out more warp plasma, this caused a small chain reaction which caused the starboard nacelle to be destroyed completely as Picard collided with another asteroid this time it caused heavy damage to the outside of the shuttle as it tore a gaping hole in the side of the shuttle as the wing and nacelle were both torn away from the starboard side of the shuttle. Geordie leapt to his feet and activated a forcefield as the S.I.F had also been damaged life support was damaged, they were losing a vast amount of oxygen into space, Picard was having difficulty keeping the shuttle in motion as it was being propelled by the damaged nacelle they were going to collide with an asteroid, Picard just watched as the shuttle was being shut down as power was being routed to the nacelle to keep it stable as if it exploded then it would destroy the shuttle along with it.  
  
"Commander the Cousteau is in trouble," said Deanna, Martin was looking down at the control panel beside him as he was checking sensors, "Data turn us around and lets get their quick," ordered Martin, the Runabout turned around and it quickly went back the way it came, from where they were they could see the Cousteau was spinning uncontrollably into an asteroid which would kill their friends, they were going to try to rescue them, "sir the Enterprise," shouted Deanna the Enterprise had just dropped out of warp and she was quickly moving over the asteroid field towards the Cousteau. "I thought we couldn't use Warp drive in The Zone," asked Riker, Deanna scanned the Enterprise "Will amazingly they have applied the data, that Data, Beverly and Martin had recovered and adapted it to the Enterprise as her deflector dish is working backwards as the shields are propelling the particles out of the way," the officers were silent they weren't expecting the Enterprise for another few days they couldn't have reached Worf and reached them faster than they had. The Cousteau was beamed back on board the Enterprise and a few seconds later the Runabout was being hailed, "Lieutenant Sovar you had orders to return to Deep Space Nine to get Worf, what happened," at first Sovar didn't answer but he replied "the fact we didn't get him was that he was aboard the U.S.S Voyager, and they had developed a means of travelling across The Zone with the help of Seven of Nine, she applied it to the Enterprise and told us to get Picard back immediately as a problem has arisen within the very walls of the Federation," he stopped as Picard walked onto the bridge he was out of uniform but none the less he was still the Captain.  
  
Martin was just sitting there while Picard was being informed what was happening at HQ, "Martin I would normally let you continue on with your mission but it is imperative that the flagship of Starfleet must return to Earth this instant while Voyager takes up the problem here, Worf will be accompanying us as well as this time we will need his help," said Picard, his mood had changed and his brow was creased as he was highly concerned about something and it had something to do with HQ. The shuttle was back in the shuttle bay a few minutes later, and Martin was heading back up to the bridge he was having trouble in the turbolift placing the outer jacket over his uniform, Martin was very concerned because as the shuttle had boarded the Enterprise, she was already moving back towards home, Earth. Martin was on the bridge he was just adjusting his uniform so it was neat he then made his way to the Commanders chair on the right hand side of Picard, Riker was just behind Martin as he came out of the opposite turbolift and sat in Counsellor Troi's chair, the Counsellor wasn't offended but she was sitting on a chair that was just next to him, with all the bridge staff on the bridge the ship was at full Red Alert and crewman were coming onto and exiting the bridge with reports and data. The bridge was really active and Martin hadn't seen it like this before, Worf was at tactical and Sovar was now at the helm, Martin could count at least 15 crewman on the bridge at all times which was quite worrying. Picard's knuckles were white as he was gripping the arm of his chair very tightly, Martin could tell he was tense along with the other officers on the bridge, "Lieutenant Sovar what is our speed," asked Martin as he was unsure what speed they were travelling at, "we are travelling at maximum warp, Commander," replied the Lieutenant, the creases on Martins forehead deepened even more and the curiosity inside of him was growing even more. "Captain may I ask what is so important for us to return to Earth," asked Martin as his curiosity had gotten the better of him, "have you not been briefed Commander," replied Picard, he was looking at Martin his eyes were what looked like full of fire, "the problem is number one that Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards has been destroyed, but it wasn't by the Borg and whoever or whatever it is, is now heading towards Earth, also tragically on board was Superintendent Bennett he was visiting the yard, on a routinely inspection, on another matter the U.S.S Incursion will be joining us in a few minutes," said Picard he was now looking back at the viewscreen, "you mean the new holo-ship, the one that can take the form of any ship," asked Martin, Picard didn't reply but nodded. "Sir a small fleet of ships is joining us, it's the Klingons they have brought with them seven bird-of-preys, two Vor'cha-class vessel's and one Negh'Var vessel belonging to Martok," said Worf, he was checking the sensors too see if Martok was aboard and sure enough his answer was made, "Sir Martok is hailing us," said Worf, Picard stood up and replied "open channel Mr. Worf," the viewscreen changed and sitting down was the High Councillor Martok on the screen his teeth were bared as he spoke but it wasn't with anger it was with friendship as he saw Worf at tactical, "Captain Picard I hope you don't mind us tagging along for a glorious battle, but I suppose you need as much help as possible, that is why we are here and I have more ships on the way," the Klingon had stopped speaking and was waiting for the reply from Picard, "thank you Chancellor, with the Klingons support we will make amends and defeat this foe," Martok was just sitting their he didn't reply but he was talking in his native language to another officer, "and the same to you Picard we will talk soon in person I hope and good hunting," the viewscreen was replaced with the stars zooming towards them at a tremendous speed. "Sir more Federation and Klingon vessels are joining the attack," said Data who was sitting in front of them, "the Defiant is leading the way they will be with us in a few seconds," and out in front of them they could see the vessels approaching them slowly as they reduced their speed to join the fleet it was quite amazing as they joined the fleet and instantly they went faster and were travelling at the same speed as the rest of the ships. The Enterprise was moving a lot faster than any of the ships as she moved her way up to the front beside the Defiant, as they were making their way back towards Earth more and more Federation vessels were joining them the Federation's foothold on the Alpha Quadrant could fall if they couldn't get their in time, if the alien race succeeded then the United Federation of Planets would die and that would also spell doom for Starfleet as well.  
  
The Enterprise was under a lot of stress as she would pave the way for the Armada and how they were going to attack, Picard wasn't in his ready room or on the bridge he was sitting in the observation lounge, he was facing the models of the Enterprise his eyes were looking at them in turn he was thinking, what the other Captains of the Enterprise would of done if they were in this situation, he knew how Kirk would of reacted his phasers would be set on kill and he would jump straight into it head first, Spock's approach was more subtle he would use his logic in either attacking the enemy or play out a waiting game to see how they would react first. Captain John Harriman like Kirk would of jumped in feet first and asked questions later, and then it would have been too late as their would be nothing to ask about, Rachel Garrett would of used diplomacy but as a last resort she would of also been like Kirk and defended what she thought was right, the only Captain of the Enterprise other than himself, who had used his brains and thought about his actions before he did anything was the very first Captain, Jonathon Archer he paved the way for Kirk and his successors. Picard was coming to terms with the fact that his way of doing things was not going to be very successful this time around maybe he was going to follow Kirk's way and just go in with Phaser's firing and torpedoes launched, but in the back of his mind he knew it wasn't him and his way of doing things was more efficient. The two sides' of his mind were in conflict he would have to put it aside for another time as their were more important things to worry about, they were approaching the Sol. Sector and it was only a matter of time before they would be confronting the enemy. He wouldn't be able to talk about it with the Counsellor as he needed a friend to talk to, so he decided he would go and see an old friend as she had transferred from the Enterprise D to the Enterprise E along with the crew, he made his way down to deck 7 by using the turbolift. He was walking down the corridor towards his friend's room and he noticed how there were no crewman on this deck and it should be busy with activity as it was the main corridor of the whole ship, as everyone seemed to use it to get around the vessel, he was now standing outside the persons room he pressed the door chime, he waited for a few seconds their was no answer from the room to let Picard enter, so he tried again, their was still no answer he was going to override the door's mechanical lock when it opened to reveal a dark skinned woman, he often sought advice from this woman and her name was Guinan. "Come in Jean-Luc, what ever you need to ask I know already," said Guinan, she gestured for Picard to sit on a chair next to the window which out looked space, it was though you could launch yourself out of the window and into space but that was practically impossible, Picard sat down as Guinan sat on the window ledge. "You want to know the right or wrong path to take on your journey," said Guinan after a few minutes of silence, "yes Guinan but which path to take, that's the choice I must make." but he stopped as Guinan looked at him and shook her head "you can't see past the end of your nose Jean-Luc you only see what you want to see," Guinan looked back out of the window and continued to speak, "your mind and heart are telling you two different sides to the story but look deeper, take the Borg as an example you chose your heart over your mind as you resent the Borg as you used to be a drone, your choice is not what's in your heart," Picard thought about it a second and he replied "then it's what's in my mind," Guinan shook her head again "no Jean-Luc it's something else all together, it's instinct the only way you will know which is the right choice or the wrong choice is when you know what you are up against until then I can say no more, and one more thing before Riker tells you we are entering the Sol sector tell your senior officer's to visit me as I haven't seen you in 10 forward in awhile," Picard was even more confused than he was when he entered the room. Talking to Guinan had made matter's worse, "Riker to Picard I think you want to come and see this," said Riker over the intercom Picard got up and smiled at Guinan she bowed her head slightly and Picard left the room.  
  
Martin was standing alongside Riker, as the site in front of them was a one of sheer horror, "Data any news what that vessel was," asked Martin he was looking out of the viewscreen trying to work out what type of Federation vessel it was, "Sir I believe that was the U.S.S Sovereign the sister ship to the Enterprise, she was also the first sovereign class vessel," Picard walked onto the bridge the officers turned, "sir we have slowed to impulse as we have entered the sol sector and we were faced with this," said Martin, his feelings inside of him were twisting and writhing he felt sick, "Data what vessel was that," Data told Picard what he had told the others, Picard's face changed. "Send a message to the fleet power up all weapons and go to Red Alert and be prepared for anything," Picard was now positive what the correct answer was he was going to destroy this phenomenon or what ever it was as the Federation was in mortal danger. The Enterprise picked it's way through the wreckage of the ship scanning for survivors but what ever caused this left no survivors, the ship moved silently through space as they travelled towards Earth at warp 1 so they were able to scan the debris of Federation vessel's which were littered all around them, "sir Earth has just come into range would you like it on the viewscreen," asked Data Picard was tense he was unsure what they were going to expect, "Data where is Spacedock," said Picard worriedly, Data used the sensors to scan the area for the Spacedock, "Sir sensors have told me that the Spacedock was destroyed at 1446 hours," Picard's head drooped slightly. "Data on screen," said Picard in his voice their was a large hint of anger, the viewscreen came on and sure enough Spacedock was no longer present above Earth but a very large bulk was in orbit around it, it was larger than the moon but smaller than Earth, "what is that vessel Data," Martin watched Data's hands fly across the panel, "sir that vessel is not in the database that is a new alien race," Picard was in shock he hadn't realised that were any new races capable of so much destruction other than the Borg. Picard sat down in his chair and said "Lieutenant Sovar give us everything you've got and get us their now, Worf get ready we might be in for a rough time," Martin's feeling's were getting worse as the Enterprise moved faster other Federation vessel's had already begun to surge forwards ahead of the Enterprise, they were intent on the same goal to eliminate this threat. Riker watched as the first line of vessels reached them he was hoping they would do some damage but from what they saw was unbelievable weapons were fired from the alien vessel and they hit every Federation vessel's they were all damaged instantly but they were still putting up a resilient fight, the Enterprise slowed down as Picard was unsure whether or not to attack, the Klingon fleet charged past them and they engaged in the battle but they weren't having any luck either, "sir the Defiant is asking for assistance they are under fire and there propulsion system's are down," Picard couldn't wait any longer, "Sovar let's go and get them," ordered Picard the Enterprise headed into the battle zone to get to the Defiant's aid, "sir incoming phaser fire from the enemy vessel," said Worf, the Enterprise swiftly moved out of the way she did a barrel role to avoid the phaser fire and another starship, "Sovar do what ever you can to avoid them, we need to get to the Defiant," said Martin. They were watching the Defiant as she was dead in the water with plumes of smoke being vented from the aft section as it had been torn away from the hull, it was above the engine room so they would have difficulties getting into the room to repair propulsion, the Enterprise was getting closer and at this point it hadn't received a fatal blow yet as she was able to dodge the enemy fire but her luck could run out at any moment all around them Federation and Klingon vessels were flying around them taking aim at the alien vessel, but none of them were powerful enough to stop it. The Enterprise was receiving distress calls from all the vessels, but since they were intent on rescuing the Defiant as she was an important ship and was not meant be lost so they were unable to help the others, the Enterprise was really close another few metres and they would be in transporter range this would enable them to rescue the crew from the Defiant. As the Enterprise avoided another blast they were joined by two vessel's, "Data what are those vessel's," asked Picard as he had noticed them as well, it took Data a few seconds to locate and scan the vessels, "sir one is Martoks vessel and the other is the Incursion she has adapted to the shape of the Enterprise and she is shadowing us to protect us," said Data but just as he finished speaking an explosion rocked the ship, Martoks vessel was hit and it exploded into a ball of flames, the Enterprise was momentarily engulfed in flames. As the Enterprise re-emerged from the blast with scorch marks across her bow, Data shouted, "Captain look the Defiant," shouted Riker, over the blast of the Klingon vessel, Picard and Worf both looked at the screen and their in front of them the Defiant burst into a thousand pieces as the enemy weapon flew into her starboard side, Worf behind them cried out in anger as he had lost some of his friends made on Deep Space Nine. The Enterprise turned to fire at the Alien vessel, and she let rip five crimson beams at the enemy and fired a full round of quantum torpedoes but the alien vessel broke of orbit around Earth and it now turned and headed towards the Enterprise, one green blast of the enemy weapons hit the Enterprise, the Enterprise wasn't damaged yet but her shields had dropped down to 85%, Picard was standing he started to call out a manoeuvre but before he could finish the deck beneath him pitched wildly it sent the Captain into Data, who was sitting upright in his chair. Picard regained his senses and he steadied himself on his feet just to be flung to the deck by another assault, a conduit behind them exploded which sent an officer flying over the two Commanders heads, the officer landed awkwardly, Deanna jumped out of her chair and checked his pulse, "He's Dead," she shouted over the noise of the plasma being vented from the conduit their was also a fire on the bulkhead as a panel had fallen from the wall a fire extinguisher was produced and the fire was extinguished, their were fires and crewman being injured all over the ship as they were having difficulty trying to destroy the alien vessel but it was if the enemy vessel wanted the Enterprise as it had stopped attacking the other Federation vessel's and Klingon vessel's but at a high price, the Enterprise had turned away from Earth and engaged it's warp engines for the alien vessel to follow them as it was obvious what the enemy vessel was trying to do. "Damage report Data," asked Picard as they were further ahead than the enemy vessel so they could survey their damage, "sir decks 3 to 6 have lost all power, the secondary memory core is fractured but repairable, aft torpedo launcher is offline but Geordie is on it already we have a hull breach in the shuttle bay, we have heavy casualties third degree burns broken limbs and body deformation and last we have 11 deaths one on the bridge, three lost from the shuttle bay and seven lost in Engineering," Data finished his report on damage but by his calculations the enemy vessel will catch them up in less then 10 minutes so their chances of survival were slim. Picard looked around the bridge their were burn marks around the ruptured panel and bits of the hull plating on the deck, Picard had spotted that the dedication plaque was missing from the wall so he went to where it was and lifted it of the floor he brushed off some of the bulkhead which had fallen on top of it and placed standing up on the floor, he then looked around at his officers Martin was nursing his arm as it was burnt from the fire as it was him who had put it out, Deanna was brushing some hair back across her face as it had been strewn across her face. Riker was helping Worf to his feet as he had been thrown across the bridge on the last attack but wasn't hurt, Data was fine and Lieutenant Sovar had a cut above his forehead as he had banged it against the helm, "Geordie have you got that aft launcher back online as we may need it in a few minutes, "yes sir it's online I've dispatched a small team to repair some of the ships functions and I have to warn you we cant take another battering or we will lose containment on the warpcore," replied Geordie their was a lot of static and noise on the intercom as they must be having problems in Engineering. The Enterprise lurched forwards as she was under attack once again by the alien vessel, whoever they were they were hell bent on trying to destroy the Enterprise, Picard was going to have none of it he sat down in his chair as the weapons weren't really that effective at warp speed as they were probably channelling their energy into their engines. Picard was thinking about his next move as their was an explosion on their starboard side of the vessel which made the lights flicker, "Data what are they firing at us," asked Riker, Data scanned the next missile that was approaching them, "it is similar to the quantum torpedo but it's effects are unknown they act as seismic charges which could damage our warp field if it comes in contact with the drive section," said Data, Martin was using his super intelligence to develop a plan, "Worf what is the maximum velocity we can launch a shuttle at," asked Martin he turned to face Worf, Worf's face went blank at first and then he replied, "we can launch a shuttle from warp five and it wouldn't cause any harm but anything above that would put major stress on the shuttles system's making it collapse," he continued to speak, "but it is possible if a shuttle had reinforced armour and for it to travelling at the same speed of the vessel when it leaves the ship, why do you ask?" Martin smiled but he quickly hid it, "Captain I think I have a plan but it would mean I would have to leave the ship," said Martin as he turned to face Picard. "Martin if you are able to save the Enterprise then do it," replied Picard, Martin jumped to his feet and stumbled slightly as the ship shook from another attack, he went to the turbolift and headed down to his shuttle. As soon as he arrived in the shuttle bay he opened the shuttle bays aft doors and he saw the alien vessel it was huge up close it must have been twice the size of a Borg Cube, Martin opened his shuttle door and he set to work getting the shuttle ready for action, he was standing at a control panel pressing buttons when a voice behind him made him jump "want a hand," it was Riker he had left the bridge to help, "yeah you could help I need the shuttle ready, if you keep working here you can increase the strength of the armour of the shuttle I want it up by 10% then I want you to load up a tri-phasic photon torpedo, while I tend to another system," said Martin as he entered the middle section, he climbed down the ladders and crawled along to the cloaking device, he pressed a few buttons on it and it came online as Martin was going to use it.  
  
Martin was sitting in his chair in the centre of the room with Riker at the helm, Martin then transferred tactical and sensors to his control panel so he was able to control them, "Riker take us out, computer Red Alert and engage the cloaking device," ordered Martin the shuttle lifted of the deck and disappeared from the naked eye, Riker turned the shuttle so it was facing the opposite direction and he took it out backwards as soon as they left the shuttle bay they would have to jump to warp or they would collide with the alien vessel. Martin was just sitting as his plan was active and he had all the confidence in his friend, the shuttle left the bay and the Enterprise instantly slipped away from them they only had a few seconds as they were slowing down really quickly the turbulence was terrific on the inside of the shuttle it was being shook hard and if Riker couldn't get the Warp drive in working order then they would be crushed by the alien vessel, they were only a few inches away from the shields as Riker jumped into warp speed they wouldn't be able to catch the Enterprise but they would be able to keep in front of the enemy, but they weren't sure for how long as the enemy was travelling at only just a faster speed at least for now they weren't firing any weapons, "Riker are we in position," asked Martin, Riker checked his coordinates and replied "yes Martin we are in position," Martin's finger began to itch as his finger hovered over the button to fire the weapon, he had loaded into the aft launcher so he could fire it at the enemy vessel. Martin's finger lowered and he activated the weapon it shot out and it collided with the shields it was only a matter of time before the Enterprise got the information they needed until then the Runabout had another small task, "Riker let's do task two," said Martin the Runabout moved from her position and they proceeded to move behind the enemy vessel they dodged a few of the energy cannons as the shuttle was in the way and they didn't want to hit them as with shields down they would be torn apart at this speed. They were positioned behind one of the main engines which provided the power necessary to keep them in Warp drive their second task was too take out at least one of the engines, with the shields down it would be a lot easier, Martin pressed another button and this time one crimson beam left the phaser emitter and collided with the engine Martin fired a few torpedoes into the engine as well, as if it was a miracle the big hulking object started to slow down as Riker and Martin had destabilized their warp field. Riker dropped out of warp a split second behind them as they would crash right into the rear if they didn't, Riker then piloted the shuttle back towards the Enterprise as she had stopped just out of range of their weapons and as they couldn't pursue it would make the Enterprise life much easier, the shuttle was approaching the docking bay when on the sensors Martin picked up alien shuttles heading towards the Enterprise and they were twice the size of the Runabout which was a little unnerving. They were powering up their weapons and they fired at the Enterprise her shields were being hit in random places trying to find a weak spot but if any the shots missed and hit Martins Runabout then they would be detected for a few short seconds which could be very vulnerable, the enemy vessel was moving again and it was approaching the Enterprise but the enemy vessel was not attacking them any longer but as they approached closer and closer the front of the vessel opened to reveal a very large interior and to Martins and Riker's amazement the Federation Spacedock was inside the vessel along with other Federation and Klingon vessel's, Martin scanned the large Klingon vessel and realised it was Martoks ship and he was wondering why it was in their. The alien shuttles were firing some sort of tractor beams onto the Enterprise and they started to drag it inside the alien vessel the Storm was already inside as the giant doors closed around the Enterprise, Martin glanced outside and their at the mouth was a replica of the Enterprise down to the last microbe but it was destroyed with one blast, it had dawned on Martin what was happening the alien race cloned the vessels and then destroyed them while they captured the originals and transported them to wherever they were headed. The Enterprise was set free but her propulsion had gone and she was drifting towards the back of the ship along with all the other vessels, at the very rear of the ship Martin could see the dry dock which had apparently been destroyed around the planet Mars what ever was happening was really weird. The Storm was moving towards the Enterprise but they wouldn't be able to hail her as they would be detected so the best idea was to beam over to the Enterprise as her shields were down, so it would be easy to get aboard, Riker was going to stay on board the shuttle just in case Martin needed to return to the shuttle quickly.  
  
Martin had a phaser rifle at his side, a tricorder and a type two phaser he grabbed a hold of the rifle and held it in front of him just in case the Enterprise had been boarded, "Riker engage," said Martin and he was engulfed in a bright blue light and was placed in the transport buffer for a few seconds and then he was flung across the empty space in a few seconds and he was standing in the transporter room when the re-materialization had stopped. Their was no one in the room, which was quite odd as it should be fully manned, Martin walked behind the console where the transport operator would be and he jumped out of his skin as their lying on the floor was the transport operator, he pulled out his tricorder and scanned her on the small display screen it read cryogenically frozen, Martin was puzzled and he did feel a little cold, he placed the rifle at his side and he held the small scanning device in front of him and scanned the room, their was nothing but the temperature of the ship was down by twenty five degrees, Martin decided to leave the room but he walked into the door as it hadn't opened as he had approached it. It took a few seconds for the door to open but it opened slowly which was a relief, Martin carried on down the corridor and he was picking up the lifesigns of the crew but they weren't moving, he nearly walked into a crewman and Martin paused and looked at him, one foot was of the floor and he looked as though he was running from someone or something. Some where behind him Martin had picked up a lifesign he turned around and looked behind him but their was no one their, the small display screen defiantly read their was someone their Martin walked back the way he came with one hand clasped around his phaser just in case, what ever it was, was still in front of him and it was at the same distance that he was at if he moved towards it, it moved as well their must have been at least 10 meters between them. Then in front of him their was noise like some one falling over, Martin pulled his phaser from it's holster and held it in front of him this time as he walked forwards he took more precaution, their was a bend so Martin used this to his advantage he could here voices but they weren't speaking in the Commanders tongue which was human, so they were defiantly Alien. Martin looked around the corner and he saw two figures hunched over another on the floor, there was one of the Starfleet officers on the floor which Martin presumed the alien had fallen over, Martin lowered his phaser placed it back in it's holster and grabbed a hold of the rifle and he placed it in front of him and stood out into the corridor, "don't move or I will shoot," said Martin, they looked up and saw Martin, they went to grab their weapons but Martin fired a warning shot at the one on the floor and it missed only by a few inches. "I wouldn't I'm a good shot," said Martin but his voice was more assertive, they moved their hands away from the weapons and they stood up, they pressed a button on their arms and disappeared, Martin thought to himself well I should of realised they had transporters. Martin ran down the corridor towards the nearest turbolift he pressed a button just next to the door he could hear footsteps coming towards him and they were running, the turbolift had arrived at his deck and the doors were opening really slowly, so Martin put his hands in and pulled the two doors apart so he could fit in, "computer bridge," shouted Martin the doors started to close slowly Martin held the rifle up and aimed at the empty space in front of him, the aliens came charging at the turbolift and tried to open the doors but Martin fired at the alien and it flew against the bulkhead, three green phaser bolts came flying into the room and grazed Martin's shoulder and hit the rear of the turbolift, Martin fired again at another Alien and the doors finally closed he placed his hand at his arm and he looked at it; it was bleeding but not heavily. Martin made it onto the bridge all the crew on the bridge were frozen and Martin was unsure what to do, Martin spun around and the doors started to close, Martin looked around for something to stop the doors from closing as it so happened his foot was next to the plaque he picked it up and he dived at the door and placed it in the bottom just as the door closed around it, the turbolift would be unable to descend to the lower decks, Martins only concern was getting the shields up to stop anybody else from beaming across to the Enterprise. Martin ran over to tactical and got in front of Worf and transferred emergency power to the shields and they instantly came back online, they were only at 10% but they would prevent any more aliens from getting on board now to deal with the ones already on board, he located the aliens their was ten of them on the ship, their was five on deck 12 were Martin had come from and the other five were in the secondary memory core room, Martin placed a forcefield around the aliens in the memory core room and around the one's on deck 12. Martin thought to himself that's one job taken care of, now to get the ship back up to temperature, Martin walked over to the environmental controls and pressed in the key temperature which was 37 degrees Martin could feel the temperature getting warmer, the frost on the bulkheads and floors started to disappear their was colour returning to Martins cheeks and the power started to flow a lot more easier, the ship was coming back online, the turbolift doors opened and Martin removed the plaque he turned around and the crew on the bridge started to come back to life they were moving their limbs as they had been frozen for a few hours, "Captain are you O.K," asked Martin as he walked down the ramp towards Picard, "yes number one, but I thought you were aboard your shuttle the Storm, where is the Enterprise, the last thing I can recall was we were being attacked by small shuttles and now we are." replied Picard, it took Martin a few minutes to explain but in the end it made sense. The Enterprise was in working order except for the weapons and the engines so they couldn't go anywhere, "what about the Storm is she O.K asked Picard as she may be our only hope of getting out," asked Picard, it had dawned on Martin that he had left Riker alone on his shuttle and he wouldn't know what was happening "oh sorry sir but I have to depart I need to go back to my shuttle as we do not want to use communications in case we are detected," replied Martin, but before Picard could say anything else Martin had gone, he was making his way back to the transporter room so he could get back to the shuttle. He was still carrying his weapons as they were needed back onboard the shuttle as it was apart of the shuttles armoury, "Ensign just activate the transport I have already got my heading in place," said Martin he aimed his rifle just in case the shuttle had been taken over, Martin had re-materialized on the transport pad of the shuttle Riker had a phaser on him "whoa don't shoot," said Martin and Riker at exactly the same time they both grinned at each other Martin then filled Riker in on what happened over on the Enterprise but before Martin had finished the transport pad was activated and Martin went to step of but he was being transported somewhere else he wouldn't be able to raise his rifle in time because he wasn't engulfed by the familiar blue beam it was a light green, Martin was a little bit dazed as the transport had taken longer than a human has ever done before, but as soon as it had stopped he raised the rifle quickly and prepared to fire.  
  
Martin blinked and the alien race was standing around him their weapons pointed at him but as instantly as he arrived there was a forcefield placed around him, Martin fired the rifle and a single shot was produced but it collided with the forcefield and dissipated, "you killed our crewman you murderer," said the alien, Martin was wondering why they spoke English over here and not on the Enterprise but the universal translator would have been offline for it not to work, "speak now or we will kill you," said the alien but their was more anger in his voice, Martin was taking his time to look at them as he looked at them he saw that this wasn't their faces as they were wearing armour, it was a dark brown and he could see a little bit of scaly green skin under the eye piece they were wearing, "I am Commander Miller of the U.S.S Enterprise from Earth," said Martin eventually, "ah it speaks, I suppose we can get the formalities out of the way, I am High executor of the Draa'kon people to the High Implementor Crudos, and my name is Dabbet" replied Dabbet, "I killed them because if I didn't they would of killed me and I was only defending my ship like you were defending yours," said the Commander but his words were harsh and he meant to say it that way as they had taken their technology, friends and family. They said no more but they filed out one after the other, the last thing he heard from them was "make sure he doesn't leave this room," and two guards were placed on the outside of the door, Martin removed the tricorder and scanned the room, the bulkhead was made of duranium and a metal which Martin hadn't seen before but he stored it for Data when he returned back to the Enterprise, he then scanned the forcefield that surrounded him he was trying to find it's frequency or find a weakness in it. Martin had scanned every inch of that room but he was unable to find any weakness in the forcefield but he was able to work out that the panel on the other side of the room operated the transporter; Martin tried to use the tricorder to link up to the panel to try and use it but the tricorder didn't have the range as the forcefield was like a dampening field Martin would have to work out a way of making the range greater. His hand fell on the phaser and then he pulled it out and examined it he realised that it had a small battery clip and it would hold sufficient power to boost the signal from the tricorder but with out the right tools it might not work, he removed the battery clip and placed the phaser back in it's holster he sat on the floor and removed some wires from the tricorder and he connected it to the battery clip but the connection was not finished as he would need several other components, he pulled out the phaser once again and hit it against the floor trying hard not to make a lot of noise as not to alert the guards, out of the components from the phaser he managed to make a substitute component which he attached to the tricorder, the phaser Martin was carrying was now useless and instead of taking the phaser with him he picked up the rifle and fired, the phaser just evaporated into thin air as he wasn't going to leave it behind so the Draa'kon couldn't get their hands on it. Martin had nearly finished the modifications the only problem was he was missing only one thing he needed a synthetic material, which was able to take an electrical current as their were no more wires able to connect up the final piece to the puzzle, he lifted up the new tricorder and revolved it around in his hands, the display panel reflected an object on his chest, he smiled to himself and plucked the communicator of his chest and pulled it in half, he prised out a transistor and he placed it inside the tricorder linking two circuit boards, as soon as he did this the tricorder came to life, a few lights started to flash, it was working even better then he thought and he was now able to scan beyond the room. He placed the communicator back on his chest as it still worked but it was unable to send or receive communications, Martin turned on heels and faced the panel which activated the transporter and he transferred control to the tricorder he programmed it to send him to his shuttle, he also programmed it to deactivate the forcefield which it did, he then set the timer so he was able to destroy the panel and still get home as it would take them longer to locate the shuttle with another transporter, he broke the link and fired at the panel which it blew up in a flash of bright light, which brought the guards into the room, Martin was ready for them he fired into their mid-section and they were both sent into the bulkhead he fired again and they both vaporized into nothing but the Draa'kon who had surrounded Martin when he first came aboard had re-entered the room and fired at the Commander Martin went to return fire but it was too late he was being beamed back to his shuttle, he appeared back in the shuttle and jumped down of the transport pad, he moved over to a side panel and deactivated the cloaking device and activated the shields, "computer move from Blue Alert to Red Alert," the cockpit turned red under the blinking lights, Riker take us away from the Enterprise and fast we don't have enough time they know we are here," said Martin he was too busy rushing around the shuttle preparing it for battle just in case they might run into any problems the rifle and tricorder were getting in the way so Martin put them back in the armoury as he may need them another time. The shuttle was moving away from the Enterprise and it was heading into the mass of starships so they wouldn't be found easily, as Martin had suspected they tried to fire at the shuttle but their shots would miss the shuttle as they wouldn't be able to target the shuttle with her new hull which deflected enemy fire, they were putting the Enterprise in mortal danger as she was unable to protect herself and if her shields were to give then they would be destroyed for sure. Martin was sitting in his chair he was using the sensors to locate a place where they would be able to hide and not cause any damage to any of the ships, the shuttle glided into the mass of ships until Martin was able to find a hiding place under a Klingon bird of-prey, Riker positioned the shuttle with precision accuracy. Martin left his chair and started to go from panel to panel checking the shuttles systems, "Riker I'm going to cut all the power to the shuttle, but this would entail us too lose life support so I'm going to have to ask you to wear an environmental suit," asked Martin as he walked over to a bulkhead with nothing their, he rubbed his hand across the wall until he found what he was looking for and it was a button he pressed it and a the bulkhead moved aside to reveal five environmental suits, Martin grabbed one and handed another to Riker, Martin then removed his communicator and picked up a spare which was on the shelf. Martin got into the suit and placed the helmet on, he then helped Riker into his; Martin then pushed the suits to one side and it revealed another armoury with new weapons which Riker hadn't seen before, "Martin what is this," asked Riker as he was gawping at the large armoury in the bulkhead, "let's just say this is my personal armoury," replied Martin, Martin pulled down a strange looking phaser it was quite small and compact, Martin began pulling and twisting it until he handed it to Riker, Riker revolved it in his hands at it was unusual it had three barrels and it was more sleeker in appearance than the type two, "that is a type three phaser and its capable of blasting through any metal if it is set on blast mode," said Martin he turned and removed a holster and handed it to Riker for the phaser and a tricorder, Riker placed it around his waist and while he did this Martin was busying himself by pulling down another phaser and two rifles he then began pulling and twisting at the rifle until he was satisfied, "this I am proud of this capable of blowing a Borg drone into pieces and it also randomly changes it setting and configuration so the Borg can't adapt, which gives us the advantage," Martin handed it to Riker who slung it over his shoulder. Martin had gathered all his equipment and headed into the middle section and returned with two tricorders they were the originals which Riker was a little disappointed at he was expecting a better tricorder than this, Martin saw his face and said "I haven't gotten around to developing the tricorder yet but I will soon," Martin also had a backpack on his shoulders which he started to fill with strange looking jelly encased in plastic, "they are shockwave bomb's we may need them," said Martin they were both equipped with all the weapons they would need to succeed in their small plan of action, Martin pulled the armoury door closed and it was sealed, he then walked over to the centre seat and flipped open a small box with a handle underneath he twisted it and pulled on it, metal shutter's came down at the windows and the lights and the panel started to get dim until their was no power flowing, that meant life support was off and artificial gravity, Martin and Riker activated their boots which would keep them attached to the hull. "Well let's go," said Riker they both headed towards the shuttle door, it would have to be opened manually, there was a handle at the side which Martin started to pull on and the door slid back but their was rush of air as the pressure inside the shuttle reached that of the outside, Martin took one look around the shuttle and then demagnetised his boots and he pushed himself out towards the bulkhead of the alien vessel. Riker and Martin engaged their small impulse engines on the soles of their feet so they would be able to control where they were heading, Martin reached the bulkhead first and had re-magnetised his boots so he was able to walk on the surface, Riker wasn't that far behind him, Martin had removed the tricorder and located the nearest airlock, and it was by chance that he was standing on top of one, he placed it back in it's holster and asked Riker to hand him three of the shockwave bombs, Riker opened the backpack and handed Martin three of them and Martin placed them at points on the door where the structural integrity was at it's weakest. Martin then removed his phaser, demagnetised his boots and pushed of the bulkhead he was being propelled backwards away from the airlock. Riker followed suit so they were both drifting back until Martin fired at the airlock, the three shots were not a beam they were three crimson balls which collided with a separate jelly each the door was blown off instantly, the blast had sent both Riker and Martin spinning but Martin engaged the impulse boot's and he flew past Riker and grabbed him and pulled him back towards the open hole in the bulkhead. They both reached the floor at exactly the same time, and Martin held up the phaser and fired at the forcefield that went up around the hull breach, the shot blasted into it and caused sort of a rippling affect which destabilized it, Martin and Riker quickly moved through and just as they got through the forcefield went back up again. Riker removed his helmet first and then Martin, they then got out of the environmental suits and placed them in a neat pile on the floor and placed a forcefield around them so the Draa'kon were unable to get the suits, the only way that Martin and Riker would be able to get them was if they deactivated it with a tricorder, the two of them then set off down the corridor, Riker held the rifle in front of him and Martin held his phaser, so they were both armed and ready if they were going to be attacked.  
  
Martin was in front using the tricorder to locate any of the aliens approaching them, the ship was like a maze and Martin and Riker were unsure where the bridge was this was unlike any ship they had been on before, Martin was picking up the same concentration of metals in the bulkheads but the hull was like a dark brown flesh colour and from time to time their was movement from the walls as they closed in on them for a few seconds it was like the ship was breathing it was a living ship, but Martin was unable to recognise it as a life source as it didn't show up on the small display screen. "Riker there are five heavily armoured Draa'kons around the next corner, two on the left and three on the right," said Martin, they approached the corner and Martin removed a mirror from the backpack, "Martin this is no time to do your hair," said Riker with a smile Martin gave him an exhausted sarcastic look, and then lowered the mirror to the ground and placed it just so he could see the Draa'kon and they were carrying a rifle's and they were covered in the armour which Martin had seen earlier on his first visit aboard the vessel. Martin stood up and put the mirror away, he then turned to Riker and showed Riker how to put the rifle on it's maximum setting he then did it to his phaser as it would be harder for them to get through their armour, Martin held up his hand and counted down by using his fingers, and as Martin lowered the last finger they both dashed out and began to fire at the Draa'kon, three blasts were fired simultaneously from Martins phaser which hit one of the Draa'kon square in the chest he was blasted into the bulkhead he hit the floor with a heavy thud, Martin ducked as a pale green blast was fired at him it missed but Martin didn't recover quick enough to fire again but Riker took out the Draa'kon which had fired at him, Martin fired again at another one but this time only one of the shots hit him and all he did was fall over and aimed his phaser straight at the Commander and fired, Martin had rolled but it caught him on his shoulder, Martin fired and this time all three shots hit him, their was only one left but before Riker or Martin had chance to take him out he had vanished out of sight. Riker helped Martin too his feet the shoulder was bleeding quite badly as it cut through a lot of skin and blood vessels, Martin could feel a hot flush coming over him as he walked forwards his phaser fell to the floor, Commander Miller stumbled and collapsed to the floor, the image of Riker standing over him began to get hazy as if he was dreaming the image was getting blurred, Martins eyes closed and he felt his breathing getting shallower the image had cleared and Martin looked down and he saw his body Riker was kneeling next to the body he had a small medical kit which Martin had placed at the bottom of the bag he had been carrying on his shoulders, Martin looked away from the sight below him and looked up he felt years of tension lift from his body he was really relaxed and his body was getting lighter as he drifted upwards into an abyss above him their was darkness and a faint bit of light forming it was casting a shadow on a large object, his intelligence was getting weaker it was as though he was losing his super intelligence and becoming what he thought was a normal human being would be like, it was as though his wish was coming true and how he wished he didn't have a super intelligence over everyone as it alienated him from his friends and crewman as he knew a lot more then them, Martin then realised he had stopped and was slowly drifting back down a cold wind blew across his face and in front of him their was a large landscape with trees and rolling hills lush green pastures and a small village. He could see teenagers playing they were laughing gaily and having fun it looked peaceful and Martin felt as though he could just about touch it, the Commander felt a sharp searing pain in his shoulder and then back in his mind he could feel everything returning to it's original status which meant Riker had sealed all the blood vessels and had repaired some of the damage that had been made with Draa'kon weapon, but the more Martin descended the more his shoulder began to hurt. Martin opened his eyes again slowly the image of Riker was being formed the image got clearer and Martin raised his hand to his shoulder and looked at his hand it was still bleeding but not as heavily and most of the wound had been repaired but none the less he was still in agony, "thought I lost you there for a minute," said Riker as he placed the medkit back in the backpack. Martin managed to get to his feet but most of his strength had left his body he was a little weak but he wasn't going to give up that easily he pushed Riker away as he went to carry Martin back to the shuttle and abort their mission but Martin knew better, "no offence Riker but I didn't become a Starfleet officer for nothing and I'm not going to let a little scratch stop me from completing my mission," said Martin he was standing on his two feet, he was feeling really groggy but the feeling would soon pass Martin buried the hurt shoulder under his Starfleet training and continued with the mission but in his heart he knew he could be a liability and might even jeopardize Riker's life which the Commander didn't want to do. Now that Martin was injured, the walk had become slower but they still forged on with their small mission, Martin was managing quite well even though a sharp searing pain was shooting through his arm which made life difficult, Martin was still up front but they were walking at a slower pace Martins good arm held his phaser while the other held the tricorder it just so happened they had hit his left shoulder which wasn't his main hand he used as he was right handed. They made their way through the bowels of the ship avoiding the Draa'kon as much as possible and when it came to a fight Martin dropped back and fired from behind the bulkhead while Riker took most of the shots as he charged on down the hallway but he always returned unscathed, they reached another bend and they turned the corner and they realised that this corridor must run the whole length of the ship as it didn't turn into a bend it just kept running straight and then at the very end their seemed to be a bank which led up to the next level. "Riker we have a choice we can either turn back and look for another away around or continue and risk the chance of being caught by the Draa'kon," said Martin but he tried to speak calmly as the shoulder was harassing him, "we have come this far and I believe if we turn back now we may have to start all over again so I think the best foot is forwards," replied Riker, Riker knew what pain Martin must be going through and he wished he had kept the powers Q had given him when he was aboard the Enterprise D, then they would have been able to avoid all off this nonsense, but the problem was Riker had given gifts to all his friends but one by one they rejected them as they were not ready for their change and then eventually Riker gave up the chance of being super human like the Q. They both trudged on down the corridor uncertain what they might find at the end, they were both walking in silence as neither of them had much to say to each other also it might give away their position if any of the Draa'kon approached, "Riker I think I have found a turbolift as it goes all over the ship, but I could be wrong it's on our left after three more doors," said Martin, Martin approached the door first and pressed a button on the side of the door, the door opened instantly and they stepped inside. The lift was a lot larger than that onboard the Enterprise, "where would the High Implementor be situated," asked Riker boldly they were unsure whether or not the ship had a computer but they hoped for the best, "the High Implementor is on the command deck," said a voice from somewhere in the lift, they looked at each other and said together "the command deck," Martin grabbed a hold of the rifle and lifted it so it was in front of him, the tricorder was back in its holster. Riker was still holding his Rifle they were heavily armed but Martin was having difficulty holding the rifle steady as his shoulder was giving him grief but he pushed the pain aside and thought hard on the victory they might have over the Alien race, their was a loud rushing noise around the lift like water it was building up underneath them the noise was tremendous and it could be clearly heard around them. What they weren't expecting was that the top of the turbolift had opened and they were shot up into the tube with an amazing speed, if Martin had held out his hand they would have been able to touch the edge of the tube but it was moving so fast that if they had touched it, it probably would of torn their arm's off. Riker looked up and saw the top of the shaft getting closer and closer, "Martin we are going to be crushed," shouted Riker over the noise of the rushing liquid beneath them and the noise of the decks as they whipped past them, but as they reached the top the liquid had stopped and they were being propelled on their own momentum, a hole opened in the shaft and they started to slow down ever so slightly and they burst out of the top of the shaft that they were shot up a few more metres higher then the command deck, the small circular disk they were standing on came back down with a thud as it hit the deck as the hole they had come through had closed. They aimed their weapons at the Draa'kon, who were surprised to see the two Starfleet officers just appear on their bridge. Martin and Riker started to fire at the officers on the bridge they were standing back to back just firing all they had until they stopped on the same person, who was the High Implementor. Martin took a quick look around their were bits of the Draa'kon all over the Bridge and they had caused a lot of damage to bridge itself, "don't even think about it," Riker fired at the weapon he had just thrust forwards, it was sent across the room and it collided into the bulkhead and it just fell to pieces under the immense pressure so suddenly. Martin approached the High Implementor and said in a tone that Riker hadn't heard yet, "why have you attacked us?" Martin was holding the alien a few inches of the floor he was slightly amazed at the fact he had just lifted some one of the deck which he had never done before, "we did it on orders from our master," said Crudos, Martin shook him hard "that's not a good enough reason why?" shouted Martin he was spitting with rage, Riker was going to intervene but he decided not to, the Draa'kon didn't reply but shouted in a screechy voice "let me down and I'll tell you how to release your ships," Martin dropped him from a high height and quickly scooped down and grabbed his rifle which he had dropped to hold up the Draa'kon before he had chance to seize it, the Draa'kon explained how to release the vessel's, Riker turned and looked out of the viewscreen, amazingly they were orbiting Mars so that meant the Draa'kon had returned to capture more of the Federation and Klingon vessel's, "well then what are you waiting for I want you to release all the ships except the Enterprise and Spacedock as they have to return to Earth, the large doors opened and all the Federation vessels left the hangar bay and Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards, was dragged back into position by the Federation vessels as they all engaged their tractor beams and pulled it back into its place orbiting Mars. The huge alien spacecraft drifted onwards back towards Earth to deliver the Enterprise and Spacedock Martin was beginning to think that this was the end of this problem but what he didn't know that it was going to be a lot worse because back in the Delta quadrant a certain area had now been left unprotected the starbase was left with a few ships as the rest had returned to Earth to protect her. "Sir we have received a message from the Starbase in the Delta Quadrant they are asking that we return as they need their shield generator and weapons delivered and since we are heading back their way they have asked us to deliver them," said Data from opps, Picard was in his ready room contemplating the latest events and he had left Martin in charge and with Riker in his quarters it was left to Martin to make the decision, "where is the equipment we have to pick up," said the Commander as he sat upright a little more as a sign of his importance, "we have to go to starbase 127 in the Cantoura system as they have all the parts and they are in their direction so it would be a quick stop," replied Data who had turned to face Martin, he was waiting for an answer to send back to the Starbase in the Delta Quadrant Martin had to think, "Data send a message ahead to starbase 127 and tell them we will be arriving soon then send a message to the new starbase and tell them we will be with them in a day," said Martin. The Enterprise turned and away from Earth and headed back into space as she was needed somewhere else, she streaked across the space and then she vanished in a bright white light which would take them back towards the Delta Quadrant, "Picard to Miller," said Picard over the intercom, "Miller here," replied the Commander he started to wonder what Picard wanted, "why have we gone into warp away from Earth," asked the voice again, Martin hesitated "we are heading to Starbase 127 to pick up some equipment to take back to the new starbase in the Delta Quadrant and since Riker is aboard than they thought we would be the best choice as we would be heading back their way eventually," Martin waited for the reply but nothing came at first and then "very well good work," said Picard and then the ships intercom went offline again the bridge was in silence and they were hoping that Picard was O.K.  
  
"Data you have the bridge if anything crops up tell me at once," said Martin as he got up from Picards chair, "yes sir," replied Data as he left the conn and went and sat in Picards chair, Martin walked into the turbolift and turned he was looking out onto the bridge, the doors closed in front of him "deck 7," said the Commander he hadn't slept in over 22 hours so he thought that this would be the best time to get some shut eye as all was calm. He entered his quarters and walked straight into the bathroom of to the side of his room, he removed his clothes and stepped onto a panel on the floor their was also a grid on the wall "computer activate the sonic shower temperature 5," said Martin, the grid gave out a glow it was vaporizing the bacteria that had collected over the course of the day, Martin was relaxing as it was a small haven and some of the stress lifted of his shoulders. Martin didn't bother to pick up his clothes but he placed on some shorts and said to himself, "I'll pick them up in the morning," he then climbed onto his bed and drifted into a deep sleep. Martins alarm went off and he woke with a start, he had a few hours to himself this morning as he was allowed at least a few hours rest, Martin picked up his clothes and tidied the room so it was clean, he then went to the wardrobe that was standing on one side of the room he opened the doors and their were a few uniforms neatly pressed and clean ready for him to wear, a few minutes later he had left his quarters and was making his way down to ten forward as he hadn't been down towards that part of the ship yet. The Commander was standing outside the doors debating whether or not to enter when the doors opened and a crewman walked out he nearly bumped into the Commander but only just avoided him their gaze met for a few seconds and the crewman looked away instantly as his eyes had fallen on his pips and he quickly walked away without any further hesitation, to make it look natural that he was already going to enter the room he just stepped in, the doors closed behind him, the room was very large it was clean and their were lights hanging on the ceilings and walls illuminating the room, the bulkheads were lightly decorated with natural tones for relaxation as it was a place for work and rest. Their was a table next to the window that was free and the Commander made his way across the room to go and sit at this table, when an Ensign sat down with some food, and Martin was only a few feet away the Ensign looked up and immediately moved his eyes towards Martins pip's he nearly died with shock and he accidentally knocked his drink over, "sorry sir I'll get out of your way," the Ensign then quickly moved off the table he was going to clean the table with his sleeve, "no that's not necessary it'll be alright, sorry to have startled you," replied Martin the Ensign gave a quick smile and left Martin standing their. A barman came over and wiped the table clean as Martin sat down, "and what will we be having this morning sir," said the barman, Martin thought about it a for a few seconds, "could I have a full English breakfast and a mug of tea, please," the barman bowed lightly and he glided away from the Commanders table. Guinan was working behind the bar and she had seen what had happened at the Commanders table she was smiling as she normally did and wondered who he was, the barman who had received the Commanders order was hurrying past Guinan she stopped him quickly, "is that for the Commander over their," asked Guinan, he nodded "would you mind if I took it to him as I have not had the pleasure of meeting him," he reluctantly gave her the food and drink and hurried off in the other direction. Guinan wandered through the tables towards the Commander, "hi I'm Guinan and this is where I work, mind if I join you," said Guinan as she approached the Commanders table, she placed his food on the table and sat on the opposite side of him, Martin started to tuck in to his breakfast as he was famished "if memory serves me right you are an El-Aurian and your culture had discovered the nexus," said Martin as he cut a slice of the bacon and placed it inside of his mouth and swallowed it was unusual taste as it was replicated, "yes I must say that you are right," replied Guinan "now if you don't mind me saying but you're the new Commander onboard as I have not had the pleasure of meeting you yet," Martin looked at her as he was still eating a piece of toast and it would be rude for him to speak with his mouth full, he lifted his drink and drank some of it to help wash down the food but when he placed the mug down he was going to ask Guinan a question but she had gone and she was now standing back at the bar, the plate and mug had also vanished and Martin was slightly bewildered as he was unsure what had happened, he pressed his communicator "Miller to the bridge, I want you to check the ships internal timing device," asked Martin, at first their was no answer but then Picard replied, "Number 1 there is a problem that we seem to have gone back in time by a few minutes," just as Picard had finished Guinan had returned with the food, "before you say anything yes I know I have already served you, and their seems to be a time relapse so I'll keep this warm for you until you return," with that said she moved out of the way as the Commander got up and headed out of ten forward.  
  
"Ensign Johnson I want you to scan the area for any spatial anomalies," asked Picard and the Ensign set to work as this could be a problem, Martin and Data walked onto the bridge via the turbolift and they quickly sat down, Data at the conn where Ensign Johnson had been sitting and was now making his way to the rear of the bridge, Martin sat beside the Captain and they waited, their was a warning from tactical behind them, Picard, Miller and Deanna turned to look at Commander Worf "sir I have located the problem of the spatial distortion, a vessel is heading this way and it is Federation in origin," said Worf. Martin turned to face the viewscreen and was wondering what had happened but sure enough all was revealed as coming towards them at impulse was a Sovereign class vessel but their were all sorts of strange equipment attached to the hull of the ship, Data turned just as the ship came into view and said "Captain, that is the Enterprise," his face had changed it was now blank and their were no features which explained the blankness. "Open a hailing channel with the Enterprise audio only," said Picard his voice, sounded as grim as Data looked. With the other Enterprise turning up that would mean that they had disturbed the time directive, which meant there was a problem ahead, "sir they are answering to our hail," said Worf. Picard raised himself from his chair and approached the screen, "put it through," their was a lot of static and a fire could be heard in the background of the communication, and as the vessel came fully into view they could see some of her hull had been torn away from the main structure and their was smoke leaking from the open hole in the side of the ship she looked a mess she was scorched heavily, and her nacelles were cracked so she wasn't capable of warp, "Captain Picard we need your help, we are in grave danger the power called the Borg attacked the starbase in the Delta Quadrant," replied the voice, some how Martin recognised that voice it sounded like someone from this universe, "we are from the future, the Enterprise is no match in destroying the new Borg vessel," Picard was wondering what to say but the voice kept on going, "look we are not asking you to sacrifice your ship but we have to warn you get those people away from the starbase and fast, as they are after the Omega Particle," then the ships communications went down because behind them a giant Borg Cube had appeared as it used the same method as the Enterprise to return to this point in time, but this Cube was different to a normal Cube as it looked a little odd and over the communications their familiar voice was heard "we are the Borg lower your shields and surrender your ships, we will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own, your culture will adapt to service us resistance is futile," the communications went down and Picard could hear their thought's in his head they all sounded like one voice, "all hands prepare for battle stations, Red Alert," shouted Riker as he walked across the bridge and stood beside Picard, the bridge was bathed in red for a few minutes then it returned to normal but the Klaxons were still sounding in the background noise of the ship but quietly. The other Enterprise had turned and had started fire at the Borg Cube, Picard was debating whether or not to get involved in the fight as it may have drastic recursions in the future, but Picard hadn't given the order to fire on the Borg Cube, "fire at the Cube with everything we've got," ordered Miller and Riker together they had spoken together in perfect unison, Picard didn't have chance to belay the order as Worf was an expert when it came to firing weapons and she was already firing at the Cube. The Enterprise was firing everything she had at the Cube and with the two vessels working together they were overpowering the Cube, our Enterprise was being attacked and her deck pitched beneath the officers who were standing. "Shields down to 65%, sir should I load up a tricobalt torpedo," asked Worf from tactical, Picard watched as he saw the other Enterprise from the future dump their warp core and then start to head away from it, "get after that ship and then fire at that warp core," said Picard, Sovar moved his hand in an arch and the Enterprise followed his movement and they were now moving after the other vessel, Picard gave the command to fire, "fire," a tricobalt torpedo flew from the aft section of the ship and it was going to hit the warpcore making it explode hopefully destroying the Cube.  
  
The warpcore went up in a ball of flames as it was hit by the torpedo fired from the Enterprise, it blasted into the Borg Cube and it blasted into it, debris was flung outwards from the blast zone both Enterprise's were at a safe distance as they watched the commotion, the Cube was still coming after them but their was a chunk out of the Cube which gave it an odd appearance. Then from a corner a small amount of fire was showing and it was spreading really quickly through the Cube which was going to detonate and it was not faraway from the two ships so if it detonated then it would probably destroy both vessels, "lower our shields and beam the people of that ship, then as soon as the Borg are within 150 metres go to warp," ordered Picard, the Enterprise shields dropped to beam the survivors from the other vessel across, the Cube was towering over the two ships and Picard heard a voice which he thought wouldn't hear again, "Locutus, I know you can hear me you won't see the light of day again," said the voice it was the Queen of the Borg the last time they had seen each other was when they had travelled back in time to prevent Zefram Cochrane from making the Federation's first warp flight, but it was only in Picards mind as no one else could hear it. "How much longer before they approach," asked Martin as the Cube was getting closer and closer by the second, "they will be in range in less than 1 minute and 30 seconds," replied Data who had taken up the challenge quickly and efficiently. "Transporter room 1 to the Bridge, we have them all," said the transporter controller, "Sovar get us out of here maximum warp," shouted Picard over the Cube as it was collapsing and the noise it was giving off as the bulkheads were torn in half and being wrenched apart, the Enterprise lurched forwards as a tractor beam had been activated to keep the Enterprise at bay "send a feed back pulse and destroy it." said Riker but he stopped as the future Enterprise swung around and headed towards the Cube it was going to hit the tractor beam, the person who was piloting the ship was sacrificing himself to save our Enterprise. The turbolift doors opened from the rear and a person emerged from the lift he walked down the ramp and stood next to Riker, Riker was too busy watching the viewscreen to notice the human who was standing their, the future Enterprise ploughed straight into the tractor beam and our Enterprise streaked across the space into it's maximum velocity, the Cube gave off a brilliant bright white light as it exploded into nothing taking the future Enterprise with it.  
  
Martin was looking at the person who was standing next to Riker and he jumped to his feet and rushed over to shake the persons hand, all the officer's noticed the person now but they didn't know who he was, "Sovar take us back towards the starbase in the Delta Quadrant as we have some equipment to deliver, and as for you may I ask who you are," asked Picard turning to the man who stood beside Riker and Martin, the man stepped out and approached Picard and replied, "I am Captain Kirk of the U.S.S Trident, and I am the brother of Commander Miller," Picard was thinking as the only Kirk he knew in Starfleet was Captain James Tiberius Kirk, and he was dead on Viridian III the last place the Enterprise D was seen in action. "Well Captain I'm afraid I have not heard of you and I presume you have an explanation for this," asked Picard he was being careful as this person may not be who he say's he is, "My name is Andrew and the reason you have not heard of me is because my ship is highly top secret and only the Superintendent knows of it's existence, I was not entirely telling the truth when we appeared as that was not the Enterprise, she is safely hidden which you must do to survive or you will be destroyed, my vessel was equipped with new technology which was experimental but I can't tell you anything about it as I could destroy the timeline, even with me being here is doing that already," Picard knew all to well about changing the timeline as he had done it before, Picard was unsure whether or not to believe him as the only thing that held the truth was now destroyed and their was nothing that could be done about it.  
  
Picard was sitting in the observation lounge facing the large bay windows he was wondering what the future held for the Enterprise as he had already lost one vessel under the name Enterprise and he wasn't about to lose another as the Federation were in difficult times as the Draa'kon grow stronger and the Federation getting older the fear that they will one day lose a war was upon them and if the Enterprise was to fall then the other Starfleet vessels would fall one by one. Picard was contemplating a small plan of action if once again he would come face to face with the Borg again and it has only been a year or two since they last encountered the Borg, except for the Sphere that the U.S.S Voyager had brought along with them. Picard turned on his chair and picked up a small data padd he glanced it over it held the schematics for the new weapons that they would be able to adapt to the Enterprise, which would make her stronger, and hopefully they would defeat the Borg again. "If you sit their any longer you may shrivel up into a prune, Jean-Luc," Picard swivelled in his chair and faced the voice, Picard's adrenalin started pumping through his veins his temper slightly rose he didn't look at the face but his eyes were fixed on the shoes of the person who was standing in front of him, the man was wearing the same uniform as Picard but Picard knew he wasn't part of Starfleet the person who stood in front of Picard, had hounded Picard since the first mission of the Enterprise D and he was still as annoying as ever. "Well aren't you going to say hello, or are you going to sit there and look at my shoes," replied the omnipotent being, "Q why are you still hounding me, after the last stunt you pulled before the Enterprise D was destroyed was quite enough and I do not want to take part in your games," said Picard his temper was starting to build as Q was always annoying towards Picard, and Picard was sick of him. Picard lifted his eyes slowly until his gaze met with Q's, "much better Jean-Luc, I have to complement you have quite a nice vessel, for an old timer," Q's face lit up as he said this and for some strange reason he was being smug about it and he loved to make Picard feel old, "well anyway I am here to tell you the Q continuum has decided to grant the Federation some leeway in space and we have decided to leave the human race alone as all our experiments have been carried out and we no longer see a potential in your existence," Q moved towards the top of the table and sat down, he clicked his fingers and the table was laden with food and deliquesces from all over the Alpha quadrant, Q was holding a china cup which was presumably full of tea. "Well don't just look at it Jean-Luc, tuck in," said Q as he waved at all the food a smaller flash appeared at the other end of the table, "Dad the continuum is asking you to return as we are having a major crisis," Q jumped to his feet and clicked his fingers and was gone. "He won't be back for awhile, oh sorry let me introduce myself I am Q-ball the son to Q," he paused for a second and saw the table with the food he shook his head and clicked his fingers and just as quickly as the food had appeared it disappeared. Picard was getting confused as he hadn't seen two Q's before and this was slightly strange, "as you already know my father is a practical joker and he loves to take his frustration out on you lower lifeforms well anyway I am here to tell you every thing he said was not true and we have sort of decided to help you a little by giving you some help but not the way you want it." Picard blinked and he was gone, their was a lot of unanswered questions which were buzzing in Picards head he was trying to work out an answer to all this information when over the ships intercom, "Picard to the bridge we are approaching the new starbase," it was Miller and he was now needed on the bridge as they had a little task to take care of. Picard got up from his chair and walked past a display cabinet and there were 7 die cast models of all the ships to bear the name Enterprise, he left the room but what he didn't notice that their was two figures sitting on top of the Enterprise C's saucer section. "Well son that was an excellent performance I never would of thought you could be as nasty as your father," said Q he was really looking smug as though he had gotten another one over Picard, "father were you being serious about us helping the humans in their task," asked Q-ball as he faced his father "yes I was but what they don't know is what is to come," his face had become slightly angrier as if the two of them knew something that Picard didn't. "Riley put us in orbit around the starbase so we can off-load our equipment and then we go after a bigger threat," ordered Miller, Picard entered through the doors at the side of the bridge he looked out of the viewscreen for a split second and then steadily walked over to the command chair, he then began to explain to Martin and Riker what had happened while he was in the observation room with the appearance of two Q's they were both concerned as when Q was involved it meant that there might be trouble.  
  
Personal log Stardate 51319.8; we are being a lot more careful I am keeping the Enterprise at constant Red Alert as the future Kirk is not letting on to when we encounter the Borg as he may damage the timeline even with him being here he has already managed to do so. With Q lurking somewhere we are in a precautious situation as we don't know what he has in store for me and the Enterprise I would of thought he would of left us alone after our last encounter but obviously not, on another note Commander Miller is performing better than I expected he is attacking the ships systems by improving them with diagnostics and schematics sent from Voyager which is still around at the moment he seems to be working on the shields as of late they seem to be no match against the Draa'kon but with the data he recovered from the Draa'kon vessel it is becoming very useful and all we have to do now is just sit and wait until the starbase is ready we don't know how long it will take or how long it will be before we will re-enter the Alpha Quadrant as our mission here is not yet over it's only the beginning as this is the beginning of another legendary mission by the Enterprise, End of Personal Log. 


End file.
